Speculating About Speculaas

PLUS recipe for kruidnoten!

When Sinterklaas (the original Santa Claus) sails into the Netherlands from Spain, his helpers have bagfuls of these tiny spice cookies to throw into the crowds of excited, singing children. Baking kruidnoten on a cold day will instantly fill your house with smell of festive warmth. I always have a glass jar full of them during this season. Great for nibbling and a must on December 5th, when the Dutch celebrate the Feast of Saint Nicholas! 

What would winter in the Netherlands be without a three o’clock tea break and a crisp, buttery speculaasje? Especially popular during the colder months, these delicate, little cookies have crossed the oceans and are now known as ‘windmill cookies’ in many different countries around the world. When we refer to ‘speculaas’ in the Netherlands, we are specifically referring to these cookies. The most important ingredient in speculaas is of course speculaaskruiden: a fragrant mix of spices that includes a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, aniseed, white pepper and cardamom. Besides speculaas, there are other popular Dutch treats that include this spice mix as their main ingredient. Examples are speculaasbrokken (thick, rustic slabs of speculaas), gevulde speculaas (soft speculaas bars filled with a center of marzipan), kruidnoten (tiny cookies, not to be confused with the more chewier, lighter-colored version known as ‘pepernoten’), and these days there is even speculaaspasta (spreadable speculaas; children love it on bread).=

But where did the name speculaas originate? Some say it is a bastardization of the Latin word ‘speculator’ which literally means ‘one who sees everything,’ and thus might allude to Sinterklaas’ main responsibility: to keep an eye on children and see who is naughty or nice. The name may also be derived from the Latin word ‘speculum’ (meaning ‘mirror’) and refers to the fact that speculaas cookies are a mirror image of the wooden form from which they are cut out. Yet another interpretation is that the word is a combination of two words: ‘spek,’ a Flemish word for confectionery, and ‘Klaas,’ which is short for ‘Sinterklaas.’ Or does the word have something to do with ‘specerij,’ the Dutch word for spice?

Although the true etymology of speculaas remains unknown, what we do know is that it definitely has a connection to the Feast of Saint Nicholas – one of the most popular celebrations in the Netherlands, and for most children, the highlight of their year. Although the Feast of Saint Nicholas is actually on the 6th of December (the day of the death of the 4th-century saint and bishop of Myra who is said to have had a reputation for secret gift-giving), the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on the 5th of December. The festivity no longer has any religious significance and instead, is a perfect occasion to bring back many loved and time-honored traditions: welcoming Sinterklaas and his Pieten when they arrive in November after a long boat trip from Spain, singing songs by the fireplace, putting out shoes at night in the hopes of waking up in the morning to find a little something inside of them, or baking wonderful treats that are synonymous with the season. Treats that are made with speculaaskruiden, of course.

It is believed that the spices used in speculaaskruiden were first introduced to the Netherlands by the Romans in the 5th and 6th centuries. However, it was during the Golden Age and because of the United East India Company’s (VOC) monopoly over the spice trade, that many of those spices quickly became popular in well-to-do circles. They were extremely expensive and considered the epitome of luxury, so therefore, serving a cookie made with the spice mix was a sign of affluence. 

Speculaaskruiden are readily available in the Netherlands but can be replaced with pumpkin pie or ginerbread spices. 

Here’s my recipe for kruidnoten!

Enjoy and bon dimanche!

Kruidnoten
Enough to fill a 1L jar

Ingredients:
250g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon Dutch speculaas spices
100g light brown sugar
80g plant-based butter
5 tablespoons oat milk

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Sift the flour into a kitchen machine and add the salt, sugar and spices. Pulse. Add the butter (in small pieces) and the oat milk. Pulse until the dough comes together. You might have to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Roll small balls the size of marbles and arrange them on a baking sheet with a little room between them. Bake for about 20 minutes and allow to cool (on the sheet, placed on a cooling rack). The kruidnoten keep well in an airtight container for about a week.