Pepernoten – Bite-Size Dutch Spiced Cookies

Pepernoten – Bite-Size Dutch Spiced Cookies

Pepernoten Cookies

Pepernoten Cookies

Every Sunday night, I take part in a food Twitter chat (are we connected on Twitter?) that last about an hour. During last week’s session, I met a food blogger from Holland, Ellen from In My Red Kitchen, now living in Los Angeles. We exchanged a few tweets and I told her my guy is Dutch and I’d be checking out her website for recipes. She sent me back a link to her Pepernoten recipe and told me to make that for SinterKlaas.

Today is December 6, Sinterklaas, and last night, at my guy’s delight, I made Ellen’s Pepernoten recipe. Pepernoten are tiny little cookies deeply-infused with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and clove. They are crunchy and are eaten sort of like popcorn – by the handful.

FlourHere’s a slightly-modified version of Ellen’s recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. ground cloves
  • ½ tsp. cardamom
  • ¼ tsp. ground ginger
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 6 Tbsp. butter, melted
  • 6 Tbsp. milk
Unbaked Pepernoten

Unbaked Pepernoten

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 340 F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Combine the flour, the baking powder, the spices, the salt and the sugar in a medium bowl.
  3. In a small bowl, combine the melted butter with the milk. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture. Mix until fully combined – don’t overmix.
  4. Use about a half teaspoon of cookie dough to form tiny little balls.
  5. Place the balls on the cookie sheets and flatten them slightly with your thumb. Bake the Pepernoten for 15 – 18 minutes.
  6. Cool completely on a cookie rack then store in an airtight container.

Makes about 75 cookies.