Pepernoten Recipe – Mini Dutch Spice Cookies

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.

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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)

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Dutch

Keyword: dutch, pepernoten, spiced cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 70 Pepernoten

Calories: 30kcal

Author: Sam Franklin

This traditional Dutch pepernoten (or kruidnoten) recipe makes a whole tray of delicious mini spiced cookies.  These are normally eaten around the on and around the 5th of December when Sinterklaas (the Dutch father Christmas) is visiting the Netherlands.  They are fun to cook with the kids and are so yummy that they never tend to last for long.

Print Recipe

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, the Dutch 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.

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.

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

Fun Healthy Tulip Snacks (with cheese & carrots)

If you would like to see more recipes and creative ideas for the home then make sure you sign up for the Happy Home In Holland Newsletter, which will keep you up to date with all my latest posts, freebies, offers, and news from the blog.