• Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
• Combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and Speculaas spice mix in a bowl.
  240 g all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt, 3 tbsp Speculaas spice mix
• Cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer. You can make this dough without a mixer; it will just take a bit more time.
  160 g brown sugar, 113 g butter
• Slowly add in the flour and mix the ingredients together. They should resemble beach sand
• Mix in the orange zest.
  ½ tsp orange zest
• Add 1 tablespoon of milk and mix. Add the second tablespoon of milk and then mix slowly until a dough forms.
  2 tbsp milk
• Wrap the dough in a cloth or in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or longer.
• Rollout the dough onto a floured surface to about 1/8^th inch / 3mm thick
• Cut the cookies out with your favorite cookie cutters and lay sliced almonds onto the dough to make a design.
  sliced almonds
• Bake for about 12 minutes or until crispy.
• Allow them to cool on a cooling rack before serving them.

Speculaas Spice Mix

• Mix all spices together in a bowl.
  3 ⅓ tbsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, ½ tsp ground cloves, ¼ tsp aniseed, ¼ tsp white pepper, ¼ tsp ground coriander seed, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground cardamom, ¼ tsp ground mace
• This makes about 3 TBSP of Speculaas Spice Mix. Just the right amount for this recipe.