Speculaas Spice substitute

Substitutes for Speculaas Spice with ratios

1. 2Pumpkin pie spice plus cloves and white pepper

   Close match

   Use the same amount plus ⅛ tsp ground cloves and a pinch of white pepper per teaspoon

   The most commonly stocked autumn blend, corrected toward the Dutch profile.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas and speculoos cookies, spiced sheet cakes and muffins, cookie butter and cheesecake bases, coffee drinks and whipped cream

   Very close once corrected, and this is the swap most people should use. Pumpkin pie spice already covers cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, so the base is right; what it lacks is cloves in quantity, cardamom, coriander and the pepper. Without those additions it is still perfectly nice, just softer and more nutmeg-forward, and the cookies read as American spice cookies rather than speculaas. Note pumpkin pie spice is usually more ginger-forward than speculaas spice, which is worth knowing if you dislike a strong ginger note.

2. 3British mixed spice (pudding spice)

   Close match

   Use the same amount plus ⅛ tsp ground cloves per teaspoon

   The British sweet-baking blend of cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, clove and often mace.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas, speculoos and pepernoten, spiced fruit cake and biscuits, apple desserts, cooks in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand

   Arguably the closest single jar of all, and better than pumpkin pie spice, because it already contains ground coriander and mace, which are two spices most American blends leave out and which speculaas depends on. The differences are that mixed spice usually includes allspice, which speculaas normally does not, and that it carries less cinnamon proportionally. So the cookies taste slightly more coriander-and-allspice scented and a touch less overwhelmingly cinnamon. Add a pinch of white pepper for authenticity.

3. 4Lebkuchen spice (Lebkuchengewurz)

   Different taste

   Use the same amount

   The German gingerbread blend, a close cousin built on cinnamon and cloves with anise.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas and pepernoten, gingerbread, honey cake and Christmas baking, when it is the blend you already own, darker, molasses-heavy doughs

   Related but not the same blend, and the difference is anise. Lebkuchen spice leans harder on cloves and includes ground anise and often star anise, so speculaas made with it tastes distinctly German: darker, more liquorice-tinged and less brightly cinnamon-led. That is a genuinely nice cookie, just a different one. If you dislike anise, use two thirds of the quantity and top up with plain cinnamon. Going the other way, speculaas spice in a Lebkuchen recipe tastes lighter and cleaner.

4. 5Apple pie spice plus cloves and cardamom

   Different taste

   Use the same amount plus ⅛ tsp ground cloves and a pinch of ground cardamom per teaspoon

   A cinnamon-dominant blend, usually just cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice with a little ginger.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas cookies and cake, apple and pear desserts, when apple pie spice is the only blend in the cupboard, cookie crumb crusts

   A good starting point precisely because it is cinnamon-led like speculaas rather than nutmeg-led. It is also the thinnest of these blends, typically only three or four spices, so it needs the most help: without added cloves and cardamom the cookies taste pleasantly of cinnamon and not much else, warm but simple. The allspice it contains is not traditional here but does no harm. Add white pepper too if you have it, and the result is close.

5. 6Cinnamon and nutmeg, the two-jar version

   Different taste

   Per 1 tsp speculaas spice: ¾ tsp ground cinnamon + ¼ tsp ground nutmeg; add a pinch of ground cloves or ginger if available

   The honest minimum, which works better than it should because of how cinnamon-heavy the real blend is.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas or speculoos cookies with a bare cupboard, spiced cakes and biscuits, children's baking, when you do not want to buy more spices

   Genuinely usable, and this is the part people find surprising: because cinnamon is about half of a real speculaaskruiden, a cinnamon-and-nutmeg version already smells broadly right. What is missing is depth. The cookies taste flat and one-note next to the real thing, without the clove warmth, the cardamom lift or the pepper prickle that give speculaas its long finish. Any single extra spice you can add, cloves first, then ginger, then cardamom, makes an audible difference.

6. 7Chai spice blend or masala chai spice

   Different taste

   Use ¾ of the amount called for, plus ¼ tsp extra ground cinnamon for every teaspoon replaced

   The least obvious option, and a surprisingly workable one given the shared spices.

   What changes

   Best for

   speculaas-spiced cakes and lattes, cookie butter and frostings, when chai spice is the only warm blend you own, adults who like a stronger, more aromatic cookie

   Shares cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and pepper with speculaas spice, which is most of the list, so it works. Two differences to expect: chai blends carry far more cardamom and ginger, so the cookies taste brighter, more floral and hotter, and many contain black pepper rather than white, which is more pungent. Using three quarters of the quantity with extra cinnamon keeps it from taking over. It has no coriander or mace, so the result is punchier and less rounded than true speculaas.