Dutch Kruidnootjes (Spice Nuts)

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A recipe for Kruidnootjes (Spice Nuts) is a must have for me as soon as October/November hits. I’m always happy when this time of year comes around, mainly because it means it’s time for some tasty spice nuts! A traditional Dutch cookie only available in shops at the end of the year. Once I start eating them I just can’t stop. Kruidnootjes (Spice Nuts) are also very fun and easy to make, you can involve kids if you want as well. I couldn’t let Sinterklaas pass without a recipe for spice nuts!

Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas Day is a festival for children usually celebrated on either 5th or 6th of December. It celebrates the legend of Saint Nicholas, bringer of gifts. “Santa Claus” is actually derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas. If you’d like to know more about Sinterklaas I suggest you check out Wikipedia, I’m here for the recipes, not for the history lessons 😉

I’d say, let’s get all the ingredients and start making these homemade spice nuts for Saint Nicholas day or Thanksgiving, or Christmas or just because you feel like it!

Makig Dutch Kruidnootjes (Pumpkin Pie Spice Nuts)

Grab your essentials, brown sugar, self-raising flour, butter, milk and Speculaas Spice Mix, a Dutch Cookie Spice mix. (The full list of ingredients including measurements can be found in the recipe card below). The Dutch Cookies Spice mix, is a typical mix you can find in most of Dutch supermarkets. It is very easy to make your own Speculaas Spice Mix. Pumpkin Pie spice mix can also be used instead of the Dutch cookie spice mix. It’s similar to Speculaas Spice mix but not exactly the same. You have to taste it to understand the difference, but since it has similarities you can use it as a substitute.

Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.

Add flour to a bowl.

Make a hole in the middle of the flour.

Add sugar.

Cookie Spice mix.

Butter.

Pinch of salt.

And milk.

Now, using your fingers, make a crumbly dough. These aren’t my fingers by the way, my mom was my baking helper for the day, so I could take pictures, thanks mom!

You should make the dough crumbly like this. This is the point where I’d like to ‘taste’ the dough, which sometimes results in less spice nuts in the end, I don’t understand why… ;-).

Quickly kneed the crumble into a supple dough and form into a ball, or in our case, a long shape which kind of reminds me of something else… So I suggest you make a ball, it’s better on the eyes…

Now, take a little bit of the dough and form into little balls, the size of a peanut, or, if you’d like a bigger cookie, the size of a hazelnut. Place the balls on your prepared baking tray.

Place the Spice Nuts in the oven and bake till they are done. The Spice Nuts will harden as they cool down.

And there you have it, extremely tasty Spice Nuts! The Spice Nuts in this picture were gone in about 5 minutes… I didn’t even manage to dip them into chocolate which makes them even more delicious!

If you like these Dutch Kruidnootjes (Spice Nuts cookies) you should try my Pumpkin Spice Popcorn recipe, it’s delicious!

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Tasty Spice Nuts

An easy (pumpkin) Spice Nuts cookie recipe. Recipe for Dutch Kruidnootjes. These spice cookies are delicious and easy to make with your kids.

Votes: 10
Rating: 4.3
You:

Rate this recipe!

Type	Cookies, Snacks

Cuisine

Dutch

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings

spice nuts

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour 125 g - sifted
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar 65 g
• 1/4 cup butter 50 g
• 1 tbsp Dutch cookie spice mix / Speculaas Spice Mix can be substituted with Pumpkin Pie Spice
• pinch salt
• 1-2 tbsp milk

Type Cookies, Snacks Cuisine Dutch Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Servings spice nuts Ingredients 1 cup self-raising flour 125 g - sifted 1/3 cup dark brown sugar 65 g 1/4 cup butter 50 g 1 tbsp Dutch cookie spice mix / Speculaas Spice Mix can be substituted with Pumpkin Pie Spice pinch salt 1-2 tbsp milk

Votes: 10 Rating: 4.3 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 302°F/150°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Add flour to a bowl and make a little hole in the middle.
3. Add sugar, butter, Dutch cookie spice mix, salt and milk into the hole in the flour.
4. Start crumbling the dough with your fingers.
5. When the dough is nice and crumbly, quickly kneed it into a supple dough.
6. Make little balls out of the dough the size of a peanut, or hazelnut if you'd like your spice nuts to be a bit bigger.
7. Place the balls on the baking tray and bake the spice nuts for about 20 minutes till they're brown and done.

Recipe Notes

Please note that the cup measurements in this recipe are approximate. I have added cups for those that prefer using cups. The recipe is most accurate using weights measurements.

• Kruidnoten taste great dipped in chocolate as well.
• Check out my recipe to make your own Speculaas Spice Mix / Dutch cookie spice mix (speculaaskruiden / koekkruiden).
• Pumpkin Pie spice mix can also be used instead of Speculaas Spice Mix / Dutch cookie spice mix (speculaaskruiden / koekkruiden). The taste won't be exactly the same but both spice mixes have similarities.