The toughest part of being an expat is to not go to a local store and buy all the food you want from your home country. Especially when they bring back childhood memories. “Sinterklaas” is one of those traditions where the Dutch have a ton of delicious baked goods and sweets. But living in the USA since 2006, I relied on a package from my parents from the Netherlands or an order at one of the Dutch food stores. Now I’m getting the hang of actually making these special Dutch treats at home.
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What are typical Dutch treats during the Holiday season?
The main ingredients, used in a good amount of these treats are “speculaas-kruiden” and “amandel-spijs”.
Luckily it isn’t hard to make these important parts, but it sometimes takes time. The result is amazing. Sometimes even better than the real deal from Dutch stores. And an extra advantage you’ll have is, that the house will smell amazing! I made some of these treats for teachers, friends, neighbors and colleagues.
Speculaas and kruidnoten
Sometimes the name “kruidnoten” and “pepernoten” are used for the same little cookie. But officially these round, tiny crunchy cookies are called “Kruidnoten”. And they’re easy to make.
Speculaas are normally the windmill cookies. I didn’t have a mold (here you can get one) but instead I used a rolling pin with a design. These cookies you can buy sometimes at Aldi in the USA, so we are lucky. But if you don’t have Aldi, you can try this recipe and make speculaas cookies or kruidnoten. You will find a recipe to make “Speculaas-kruiden” yourself.
Pepernoten and kruidnoten
Authentic Pepernoten are a little different than kruidnoten. They’re usually not crunchy and round. Kruidnoten are crunchy and have the same texture as speculaas cookies. Here is a recipe how to make them (translated from The Spruce Eats)
- 200 grams flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 60 grams brown sugar
- 50 grams butter
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 table spoon speculaaskruiden
- 4 table spoons milk
Gevulde speculaas
One of my favorite “Sinterklaas” treats and I’m so happy I can make this at home now.
This kind of speculaas is a little softer than the cookies and the “kruidnoten”. In between two layers of speculaas is a layer of almond paste. That is why this is called “gevulde speculaas” (“filled speculaas”). I also make the almond paste myself and it is less sweet than the store bought stuff. I always think the spices are coming out more and being less overpowered by the sugar. This is such a great gift as well!!!
Taai-Taai
These cookies are usually shaped like little men. This dough is also different than the crunchy cookies (speculaas and kruidnoten) “Taai” in Dutch means tough. These taaitaai dolls or men are chewy and tough but very yummy!
I haven’t made these cookies yet, but I cannot wait to try the some time. Recipe is from The Dutch Table.
Taai-taai
2 cups of self-rising flour
1/3 cup of honey
2 tablespoons of pancake syrup
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground aniseed
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 egg
Banketstaaf or Dutch Letter
Here is another wonderful gift. Last year I made these pastries in the shape of each of my colleagues initial. It is not easy to find puff pastry in our local grocery stores. I can only find filo dough and that is not the dough you need for these “Banketstaven” or “Dutch Letters”. I just love the buttery texture and it just melts in your mouth when they’re still warm!
Schuimpjes
Sometimes when I have leftover egg whites, I make these merengue cookies. They are very easy to make. Be sure your bowl and tools are fat free (clean with lemon juice). The normal “schuimpjes” that are in “strooigoed” are harder and more dense than these merengue cookies.
Here is the recipe from Leuke Recepten
4 egg whites
250 grams fine sugar
lemon
Preheat the oven to 195 F. Use the lemon juice to clean your bowl and whisk of your stand up mixer.
Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Slowly add the sugar. Pipe the merengue onto a baking sheet and bake for 1.5 hours.
Hot cocoa
We’ll, who doesn’t think of winter and the Holidays, when buying or making hot cocoa. But you can make it even fancier and more as a Sinterklaas treat, then just warming up store bought chocolate milk and whipped cream.
What about this fancy drink!
2 1/2 cups milk
75 grams milk chocolate
2 tbsp speculoos spread (I bought this at Walmart!)
Pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Whipped cream
Speculaas crumbs
Warm the milk up in a pan. Add the chocolate and let it melt. Add the cinnamon, cocoa powder and speculoos and mix it well with the milk. Try to get lumps out of the milk with a whisk. Divide the hot cocoa into 2 cups and top it off with whipped cream and speculaas crumbs.
ENJOY and Smakelijk Eten!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.