Over the years I’ve tried out a lot of different kruidnoten recipes. Most we liked, a few not so much. The recipes come from cookbooks, magazines and websites. Earlier comparisons I’ve done are Vanilla Cupcake Comparisons and the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe.
Kruidnoten Recipes
Kruidnoten are cookies that are traditionally eaten in the months of November and December. For flavor they need to have speculaas seasoning in them, which is comparable to pumpkin spice mix.
Kruidnoten are also known as pepernoten. However pepernoten are a different sort of cookie and the name is wrongly used for kruidnoten.
Kruidnoten are connected to Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is similar to Santa, and arrives each year in the middle of November until December 6th. A period of roughly 3 to 3.5 weeks. Kruidnoten is one of the foods that are traditionally given to kids in this period.
Not That Fantastic
From the 9 recipes I’ve prepared one was not that tasteful. It’s the pepernoten without dairy recipe from the Allerhande website. These simply weren’t flavorful and crumbled easily. For these I used salt, speculaas seasoning, light brown castor sugar, self-rising flour and vegetable oil.
Standard Recipes
From the 9 recipes I’m comparing 2 were standard. The kruidnoten taste well, but aren’t special. I tried another recipe from Allerhande, the kruidnoten recipe. For the cookie dough I used self-rising flour, speculaas seasoning, salt, butter and molasses. The cookies were still soft from the inside, while kruidnoten should be crunchy.
Then there’s kruidnootjes from Lekker in het Leven. Self-rising flour, castor sugar, butter, speculaas seasoning, milk, salt and water are the ingredients for this cookie dough. Good cookies just not the wow effect. They were to hard, needed to be a bit more soft, they weren’t crunchy.
Good Recipes
Then there are 4 recipes that are simply good. You’ll get delicious kruidnoten when you use these recipes. First the Traditional Dutch Ginger Cookies (Kruidnoten). The recipe is from the cookbook Strooigoed. For the dough I used flour, baking powder, cane sugar, brown castor sugar, speculaas seasoning, salt, butter and milk. They’re crunchy and delicious.
The second recipe is from the cookbook Sfeervol December. This cookie dough needs butter, light brown castor sugar, salt, speculaas seasoning, lemon rasp, self-rising flour and water. They’re super delicious and crunchy.
Third is a recipe from Landal magazine. I used butter, dark brown castor sugar, speculaas seasoning, self-rising flour, milk and salt in the cookie dough. They were really delicious and crunchy.
At last a recipe from the magazine De Club van Sinterklaas. Butter, dark brown castor sugar, speculaas seasoning, salt, self-rising flour and milk are the ingredients for the cookie dough. The kruidnoten turned out crunchy and delicious.
Alternative Recipes
I’ve also tested alternative recipes, one without dairy, which is already discussed above under not that fantastic recipes. The other alternative recipe is gluten free. The gluten free oatmeal kruidnoten are from Cooking Life. For the cookie dough I used gluten free oats flour, almond milk, speculaas seasoning, coconut oil, dades, ground cinnamon, honey and salt. They were a bit dry, but still delicious and a good alternative to regular kruidnoten.
Favorite Kruidnoten Recipe
My all time favorite recipe is from Brenda Kookt. It’s among the first Sinterklaas recipes I posted on my blog. These kruidnoten use self-rising flour, dark brown castor sugar, speculaas seasoning, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, butter, milk and salt. The kruidnoten are delicious and crunchy, just as they should be.
So That Are All the Kruidnoten Recipes I’ve Tried
From the 9 recipes, there’s just one not so special and 6 good ones.