My *attempt* at Levine's Divine Speculaas Rolls
After seeing these amazing looking rolls posted by Freerk ...
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/26242/levine039s-divine-speculaas-rolls [1]
...I couldn't help but try making them. Unfortunately, I didn't do justice to the recipe - mine are more style than substance, thanks to some foolish tweaks.
First off, I love the shaping technique - absolutely beautiful. Mine are a bit more clover leaf/hearts looking, and irregular, but I still like it. Now - onto my less successful modifications! As I can't buy aniseed around here, I thought I'd swap the speculaas spices (which sound gorgeous) for some mixed spice, your traditional British Christmas spice mix. The spice taste was pretty mild in the finished rolls though, so I think for mixed spice you definitely need to add much more - Freerk did suggest upping the spice, but with a clove-phobe of a boyfriend, I was a bit wary (more fool me).
My next tweaks were solely based on using what I had/being too cold and lazy to go the shops. :o) I added a couple of drops of lemon oil instead of lemon zest, which came through nicely in the marzipan. Unfortunately, while the dough was rising I used up my last egg in some biscotti, so I only had about half a teaspoon left to mix in with the marzipan. I'm guessing this is why it sort of boiled out a bit rather than setting up more.
Finally, for some reason (probably my somewhat erratic oven) the rolls weren't browning after 15 minutes like the original ones in the photo, so I left them in for another 5-8 minutes. The result: nice and brown but sadly a little bit dry, of course - foolish me! I'm wondering if I can brush them with melted butter or something maybe to moisten them a little...
Anyhow, don't get me wrong: I'd say my efforts tasted about 6 or 7 out of 10, whereas those originals looked like a definite 10 out of 10 to me! What I'm loving about this site is all the inspiration and the chances to practice, experiment and learn from my mistakes, so set backs like this are just getting me thinking... I'm imagining a walnut and honey paste filling, or a pesto style filling, or some kind of hard cheese and spinach, or tapenade....