Pepernoten, or more accurately, kruidnoten! Pepernoten is a traditional Dutch holiday cookie. The name ‘kruidnoten’ translates to spiced nuts because of the many spices that are used in their preparation. Explore some Dutch traditions from the comfort of your own kitchen! Before making these cookies, it is a good idea to check out my [Tips for Making Cookies] article. This will help you make the perfect cookies and could fix some problems you might have encountered, during your cookie-baking adventures!
If you have any dietary restrictions, always check the labels on the products you are using to make this recipe with. They will tell you if, for instance, your ingredient might contain traces of nuts, your products are made with dairy or if there is a chance the ingredients have come into contact with gluten-containing food or equipment.
Would you like to know more about what to look for when you are buying your products while you have dietary restrictions or preferences? Are you preparing food for someone who does? Check out my articles on [Food and Health] and learn more!
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Ingredients
- 50 g Unsalted Butter - [See good to know section.]
- 65 g Muscovado Sugar - [See good to know section.]
- 10 g Speculaas Spices - [Check out my recipe!]
- 125 g All-Purpose Wheat Flour - [See good to know section.]
- 55 g Cow’s Milk - [See good to know section.]
- dash Ground Salt
Other things you need
- Food Scale
- Bowl
- Mixer
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Sheet - Ideally more than one.
- Oven
- Oven Mitts
- Cooling Rack - This is optional.
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients.
- Add the butter and the milk and keep mixing until it is a homogeneous mixture.
- Shape the dough into a ball.
- Optional: Wrap the dough in food wrap and let it sit in your refrigerator overnight. You can skip this step, but the pepernoten will taste even better when you give the speculaas spices time to get absorbed into the dough.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cover the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Take pieces from the big dough ball, form them into marble-sized balls and put them on your cookie sheet. The dough-balls should be about 5 grams each. If you weigh them, you can make sure all the pepernoten are the same size. If the cookies differ in size, there is a chance the smaller ones will burn while the bigger ones are underbaked.
- Bake your Pepernoten for 25 minutes.
- Let them cool off a little and enjoy!
Good to know
- Storing: Make sure to store your cookies in an airtight container if you are not eating all of them right away. For crunchy cookies; a cookie tin is the best way to store your cookies. For soft cookies; keep them in an airtight container to keep your cookies soft and moist.
- Shelf Life: The cookies will stay good for over two weeks if stored correctly. If you like, you can store them in the refrigerator but make sure to take them out in time so they can return to room temperature before serving.
- Adding dry ingredients: If you have the patience, it pays off to sieve the dry ingredients while you are adding them. It will ensure you do not end up with lumps in your dough.
- Refrigerating: You can store the raw cookie dough in your refrigerator wrapped in food wrap for several days. Put it in a resealable freezer bag to prevent it from drying out.
- Freezing: You can freeze the raw cookie dough wrapped in food wrap and stored in a resealable freezer bag for several weeks if you do not want to bake the cookies right away. Let the dough defrost before you bake your cookies.
- Sugar: Depending on if you use dark or light muscovado sugar, the colour of the Pepernoten will differ. I prefer the dark muscovado sugar.
- Tip: Because there are no eggs in the dough, it is perfectly safe to snack on the dough while you are baking!
- Organic: To make this recipe organic, only use organic ingredients.
- Lactose-Free: Use lactose-free milk or water, and use lactose-free butter.
- Vegan: Use almond milk instead of cows milk and make sure to use vegan butter.
Nutritional Information per Portion
Know What You Eat
Both when buying food or when making your own, it is important to inform yourself about the nutritional value. Have a look at the nutrition label, learn about your serving size and what nutrients this product will bring to the table.
If you want to compare different products and their values, it is easier to look at a label where the values are given per 100 grams. This way you get a better understanding of the categories certain products belong to when it comes to nutritional values. Is this a product with a high sugar content? Does it contain a lot of fibre? How does this product measure up if I am looking to stick to a low-sodium diet?
Keep in mind that if you are looking to eat healthily, you should not just avoid eating fat and/or sugar. We need both in our daily diet. Make sure however to be aware of where you get your lipids and sugars from. As a rule of thumb, you could say; variation is very important in your diet and in general, the closer your food is to come straight from the source, the better.
If you want to read more about healthy food choices, check out my article [Healthy Food Choices]. Truthful Food also has a continuously growing article category solely focusing on specific ingredients and nutrients for everyone who wants to take a closer look at what you can find in your food.
*All given nutritional information is an indication. Due to differences in how ingredients are produced, where they are purchased and how the recipe is prepared, nutritional values may vary.
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