Skip to content
German Pastry Chef, home

Sweet Pastries, Layer Cakes

Speculoos Tartlets

by Simon Hafner

Speculoos mousse tartlets on shortbread bases, dusted with cinnamon and topped with a piece of speculoos cookie

4.8 (60)out of 5, 60 ratings

Go to recipePrint
Prep
30 min
Bake
15 min
Total
45 min
Makes
12 tartlets
A really delicious little tartlet, the kind you will happily eat 2 of.

Ingredients

Makes 12 tartlets

Mousse:

  • 5 ¼ oz150 gwhite couverture chocolateChocolate with a high cocoa butter content that melts smoothly for coating and glazing. In the US use good-quality baking chocolate bars or couverture wafers (not chocolate chips); in the UK, couverture chocolate or a good-quality cooking chocolate bar.
  • 3 sheetsgelatinGerman recipes usually mean gelatin sheets of about 1.7 g each. In the US use unflavored powdered gelatin, about ½ tsp (1.7 g) per sheet, bloomed in cold water; in the UK, leaf gelatine, weighed (about 1.7 g per German sheet), or powdered gelatine.
  • 3large eggs
  • 3 tbsp40 ggranulated sugar
  • 2 tspvanilla sugar1 packet = 2 tsp (8 g). Sugar flavored with real vanilla, sold in small packets of about 8 g. In the US use 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 2 tsp sugar for each 8 g packet; in the UK, vanilla sugar sachets from the baking aisle, or 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 2 tsp sugar per sachet.
  • 1 cup250 gheavy creamCream for whipping with about 30 to 32 percent fat. In the US use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream; in the UK, whipping cream (double cream also works but whips faster, so watch it).
  • 3 tspspeculoos spice mix

Filling:

  • ½ cup125 mlapple juice
  • 1 to 2 tbspgranulated sugar
  • 1 tbspcornstarchA fine starch, usually made from corn, used to thicken creams and lighten cakes. In the US use cornstarch; in the UK, cornflour.
  • 2 sheetsgelatin

Shortcrust pastry:

  • 5 tbsp60 ggranulated sugar
  • 2 tspvanilla sugar1 packet = 2 tsp (8 g)
  • 1 stick120 gunsalted butterGerman butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter (European-style unsalted butter is closest); in the UK, unsalted butter.
  • 1 ½ cups180 gall-purpose flourIn German recipes plain flour means soft wheat flour Type 405 unless stated otherwise. In the US use all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour.

Decoration:

  • applesauce
  • ground cinnamon
  • speculoos cookiesThin, crisp spiced shortbread cookies. In the US use speculoos cookies such as Biscoff; in the UK, speculoos biscuits such as Biscoff.

Method

Mousse:

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water. Melt the couverture chocolate over a water bath.

  2. Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar over a water bath until foamy and heated to 140°F (60°C).

  3. Stir in the couverture chocolate. Squeeze out the gelatin, dissolve it in a small saucepan and stir it into the egg yolk mixture.

  4. Stir in the speculoos spice mix. Let it cool a little.

  5. Whip the cream and the egg whites separately until stiff. Fold the cream into the chocolate and egg yolk mixture first, then the egg whites.

  6. Fill into a silicone mold with a diameter of 2 ¾ inches (7 cm) and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Filling:

  1. Soak the gelatin in water and mix the apple juice with the sugar and cornstarch.

  2. Heat the apple juice mixture until it thickens, then add the squeezed gelatin.

  3. Pour the mixture into praline molds (Toffifee molds work well too) and let it set in the fridge.

  4. Press one filling center into each mousse tartlet and freeze the tartlets while they are still in the mold.

Shortcrust pastry:

  1. Briefly beat the sugar with the butter until creamy. Then add the flour.

  2. Shape into a ball of dough and let it rest in the fridge for about 1 hour.

  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C) conventional (top and bottom heat).

  4. Roll out to ⅛ inch (2 mm) thick and cut out circles the same diameter as the mold.

  5. Bake the circles for about 15 minutes.

Assembly:

  1. Spread the cooled cookies with applesauce.

  2. Set a tartlet on top and let it thaw.

  3. Dust with cinnamon and stick a shard of speculoos cookie into each one.