The holidays are here and each culture brings its own delicious sweets. In Holland they celebrate Sinterklaas (in English Saint Nicolas – patron of children, sailors and the city of Amsterdam, arrives by boat from Spain with his white horse and his helpers). The official holiday is on his birthday on December 6th. He brings presents and typical tempting treats. In this picture you see a selection of what I think looks good; the typical chocolate letter. The whole alfabet is available and if you’ve been a sweet kid you can expect to find the initial of your first name in your shoe near the fire place the next morning. Another treat are kruidnoten; tiny, round crunchy cookies similar to gingerbread and flavored with a blend of spices, including white pepper, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and mace. In this picture you see my favorite chocolate colored and I threw in some kruidnoten with red rose icing and sugar crystals. A typical Indo cookie that blends well in this collection is Kue Kuping Gaja (Indonesian for elephant ear cookies). The original is made with cocoa, I choose rose flavor. The big spice cookie chunks are called speculaasbrokken. A big version of the windmill spice cookies, also in the picture. Oh, and of course my favorite homemade meringues. Like biting into a sugar cloud. Notice my green pandan version.
Below the recipe of Speculaasbrokken
Your house will fill up with the spice aroma.
INGREDIENTS
10.5 oz all purpose flower
6 oz unsalted real butter
5 oz brown sugar
4 tbsp spice cookie herbs mix – see recipe below
1 pinch of salt
optional: almonds
spice cookie herbs mix
1 tsp ground aniseed
¾ tsp ground cardamom
8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ginger powder
METHOD
Sift the flour over a bowl. Dice the butter. Put the flour, sugar, spices, butter and salt in the food processor and mix. Add the ice-cold water while turning. Mix into a smooth dough. Remove the dough from the food processor, form a ball and leave it wrapped in plastic wrap for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Dust the work surface with some flour and roll out the dough to 1/2 inch. Line the baking sheet with baking paper. Put the dough on top and press the almonds into the dough. Bake the speculaas in 30-35 minutes. Let the gingerbread cool on the rack and serve in pieces.
