What is pepernoten made of?

According to the website, the oldest known recipe available is from the 16th century and describes pepernoten as “A type of pastry/cookie made from flour, honey, sugar or syrup, baked mixed, in which pepper and other spices have been added ” (Eene soort van koek, uit meel met honing, suiker of stroop gemengd gebakken, ...

What is the most popular cookie in the Netherlands?

The Netherlands There is one thing that everyone must try. And those are the Dutch Stroopwafel. These cookies were made in Gouda for the first time and have since evolved to be a world-renowned cookie.

How to explain pepernoten?

Pepernoten (“pepper nuts”) are little, brown spice cookies that are popular before and during the Dutch holiday Sinterklaasavond, or Saint Nicholas's Eve.

Where are pepernoten from?

These are bite-sized spiced cookies, made with rye flour, honey and the warming spices of cinnamon, cloves and aniseed. Pepernoten have been baked in German abbeys since the 13 th century. In some Northern provinces of the Netherlands they were a symbol of fertility.

What is the number one cookie in the world?

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co.

What is the oldest cookie in the world?

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico”.

What is the #1 cookie in the US?

Nearly 93% of all American households serve and enjoy cookies as treats or after meals. However, it's the chocolate chip cookie that's the most popular in the U.S. and around the world. How much do youknow about chocolate chip cookies?

What does pepernoten taste like?

The cookies are usually prepared in the shape of squares and consist of flour, milk, butter, sugar, anise seed, cinnamon, and cloves. Pepernoten are especially beloved by children due to their spicy-sweet flavor and chewy texture.

peppernut (plural peppernuts) A pfeffernuss/pfeffernusse (gingerbread biscuit).

What do kruidnoten taste like?

They are heavily spiced with a variety of ingredients such as ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, white pepper, cloves, and nutmeg. The cookies are traditionally baked in a round shape, unlike pepernoten, which are shaped into squares.

Easy Pepernoten Recipe - Mini Dutch Spice Cookies (2024)

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This is a recipe for traditional Dutch Pepernoten (mini spiced cookies) which are traditionally eaten in the Netherlands by the bucket load during the months of November and December.

These little cookies are associated with the Dutch Sinterklaas Tradition(you can read more about this here).

The Dutch children go crazy for these little biscuits and get handfuls of them during a procession that takes place when Sinterklaas arrives in the land on his steamboat.

They are delicious served with coffee and the kids absolutely love having a little bowl of these cookies as a treat after school.

Easy Pepernoten Recipe - Mini Dutch Spice Cookies (1)

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The Difference Between Pepernoten And Kruidnoten

There are actually two types of little biscuits; pepernoten (pepper nuts) and kruidnoten (spice nuts).

Traditionally the pepernoten are actually more like taai taai (chewy aniseed-flavored cookies) and the kruidnoten are little round crunchy biscuits that are flavoured with a Dutch Spice Mix.

You can either make it yourself (here is the recipe -> Dutch Spice Mix Recipe or you can buy it ready-made -> Where To Buy Dutch Spice Mix)

The two names are regularly interchanged and everyone calls kruidnoten; pepernoten.

So whilst this recipe is actually a kruidnoten recipe we will call it pepernoten as that is what most Dutch people call them.

Pepernoten (mini dutch spice cookies)

Ingredients

250 grams Self Raising Flour (2 Cups)
125 grams Brown Sugar (5/8 Cup)
100 grams Butter Softened (1/2 Cup)
2 tbsp Dutch Spice Mix
50 ml Milk (3 1/3 Tbsp or 1.7 fl.oz)
1 pinch Salt

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 180 °C / 350℉ / Gas Mark 4
In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to mix the softened butter until it is soft and fluffy.
Add the flour, sugar, spice mix, milk and salt.
Mix the ingredients together until all the ingredients are combined and has the consistency of dough (this can be done either by hand or by using a dough hook on your kitchen aid).
Now take small pieces of dough and roll into small balls that are about the size of a marble (approx 1.5cm) and place on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Allow a little space between the pepernoten.
Place in pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes.
When ready remove from oven and allow to cool. When cool the pepernoten should have a quite hard crunchy texture. Store the pepernoten in an air-tight container.

Notes

Here in the Netherlands, theDutch Spice Mix used in this recipe is readily available in all the supermarkets. If you can’t find it in the supermarkets in your country you could always replace it with an All Spice Mix (UK) or Pumpkin Spice Mix (US) – these spice mixes will taste a little different but are good alternatives.

Alternatively, you could have a go at mixing your own. Here is my Recipe For Dutch Spice Mix.

Alternatively, you can also buy it here;Dutch Speculaas Seasoning Mix

Nutrition

Calories: 30kcal

Making Pepernoten With The Kids

In the Netherlands, you can buy these everywhere, in the shops, supermarkets, and bakeries. Whilst these are yummy, home-baked is always best in my book.

This is a great recipe to get your kids involved with as their little fingers are perfect for rolling all the little dough balls.

Easy Pepernoten Recipe - Mini Dutch Spice Cookies (4)

This was the first time we had made them at home and they were really simple to do.

In fact, the girls showed me how to make them – they were already little pepernoten experts as they had made these at school and knew exactly what to do.

I hope you will have a go at making these as it is a really fun recipe to do with the kids.

If you do decide to make it then make sure you pin this recipe so you can find it again later.

Easy Pepernoten Recipe - Mini Dutch Spice Cookies (5)

Cooking With Kids

Do you like to cook with your kids? Then you may like to try some of my other easy ideas for cooking with kids.

Healthy Peanut Butter, Banana Cookies

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