Recipe - Pepernoten
It's almost that time of year again!
The time of year where 'Sinterklaas' enters the country here in Holland, together with his jolly, black helpers. They'll hand out candy, pepernoten and gifts to kids and it'll be happyness all around!
Well, except for the fighting about his jolly, black helpers. There's the small camp of people that say it's discriminating and they cause some trouble to ruin the joy a bit. It's all way too blown up, honestly. Both sides have very black and white views and refuse to understand the other, even a little.
For me, I'm all for keeping the helpers as is. As a kid, I never once thought those helpers to be any less than the white bearded man himself. Honestly, that big, bearded man was kind of scary while his helpers were quite awesome! They were the ones who gave us candy after all! Besides, it's tradition and the only ones pointing towards a slaver's past is the very small camp against it. And isn't there always a small camp against anything whatsoever? People never, ever all agree.
I never, in my entire live, thought about the helpers as part of any race or as slaves. Never! Not until they starting whining and honestly, I still don't look at it like that. They are the helpers to 'Sinterklaas', like the little elves are for Santa. They are their own kind and I don't compare them to any other race. They are 'Zwarte piet' and they are unique. They are funny and kind and they give candy.
Anyway, it's an annoying discussion here in the Netherlands and it takes away so much from the children's holiday. It's such a sad thing and I wish things could just go back to normal. I'm sure the discussion will be strong again this year though.
Well, all of that stuff doesn't take away from the fact that this time of year is awesome, because of 'Pepernoten'! They are awesome little snacks and so tasty. They have all sorts lately! Covered in chocolate, but also with different flavours.
Last year, I decided to make my own. My own way ofcourse. I shared this recipe before, but it'll be about a year of scrolling back and we all know what a pain that is here. So I'm sharing it again, because we should all eat this again this year!
This is enough for two oven trays and this time, I decided to keep half of the dough in the freezer, instead of baking twice. I figured we could enjoy it twice like this! I wonder how well it'll keep in the freezer, so this will be a good experiment. Seeing as I use coconut oil, I'm sure I'll have to warm it up outside of the fridge to make it flexible enough the second time around.
Well, enough talking. Here's the recipe!
Ingredients
To fill two oven trays
– 100g Coconut oil
– 50g Honey
– 50g Apple syrup
– 250g Self-rising flour
– 3 Tbsp cookie spices
– 2 Tbsp milk
– Pinch of salt
Directions
- Heat up the coconut oil so it’s completely molten. Let this stand until it's cool enough to the touch.
- Mix all the ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Put a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.
- Roll the dough into small balls and spread them around on the baking tray. Push them down a bit, so they’re a little flattened.
- Heat them in the oven for about 18 minutes (Check once in a while, because this might differ a bit per oven).
- Lay them out to cool off for a bit, before eating.
Enjoy!
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This is the first time I've heard of these things. But they look amazing and you've even gone and provided the recipe to enjoy them too! Insightful instructions and very easy to follow. Will be baking me some of these very soon.
Thank you for this awesome recipe. :)
Aww I'm happy to hear that! I hope you'll enjoy them and if you have any questions, feel free to ask :-)
hello friend, this is a really nice work you have here.....
It's simply lovely resteemed.....
I've never used apple syrup. Does it give them an apple-y flavour? I was wondering about using coconut nectar instead (which I already have). I'm also wondering about using a combo of ground almonds and coconut flour (and baking soda). Given that the spice is the predominant flavour, hopefully those changes wont take away from the character of the recipe.
Is this the single mixture amount or the double mix?
Hmm, I'm not sure how to describe the flavour to be honest. It gives them a 'full' flavour I guess, you really do notice the apple syrup in the recipe. However, if you don't have it, you can always switch it up with anything you have lying around, like more honey, other syrups or coconut nectar (never tried that myself). It shouldn't take away too much of the 'Pepernoten' flavour. I would definitely be interested in knowing how they'll turn out after you made the other switches! I think they'll still taste pretty good :-)
Good question, I'll add the answer to the article (It's the double mixture amount).
Agree with you! The candy came from the Zwarte Pieten and it was Sinterklaas who held you accountable for every good and bad deed, haha.
Might give that recipe a go, but it's still early! ;)
Exactly! :D
Oh pfff, stores are selling them, so it's not too early :D
I had to investigate a little about Sinterklaas, here we say san nicolas, racist themes will always be much debated unfortunately.
Thanks for sharing esat recipe looks easy to put into practice. :)
Yeah, unfortunately. It's so sad, because I think all the debating and attention to the subject only helps to keep it in place.
Not a problem! If you decide to give them a try, I'd love to hear how they turned out!
It will be interesting if my mom, try this recipe, she uploads some recipes in her profile.
Ooh that sounds good. Does she have a Steemit profile?
Yes, it's called @cruzmargarita, I also hope she participates in Marvelous Tales someday.
Thanks for the link, I'll check out her account! :D
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Aww thanks :-)
It's a simple enough recipe and I can easily replace the milk with Almond milk.
It looks delicious.
Does it also work with another kind of oil? Or does it have to be Coconut because of the solidifying properties of the oil?
Yeah, almond milk wouldn't be a problem at all! I never tried it with a different kind of oil, so I'm not actually sure. You could give it a try. I make my bread with liquid oil and that works out fine too... Another option would be butter.
I use Earth Balance as my "butter" agent, since it's non-dairy. I could use that. Hmmm, this means we have all the ingredients right now... Well, it's late now, but I think I'm going to have some fun tomorrow :)
Ooh that sounds good! Be sure to let me know how they turned out :D
Ok, so they look very different to yours lol But they tasted very good. I replaced the milk with Almond Milk. Finally we had Coconut Oil, and instead of apple syrup, I use Crab Apple Jelly. I dropped a bit too much All Spice in (not too much to taste, but it plopped in more than I was expecting) and I also used Cinnamon. Here's what they look like, we had already eaten some when I took the picture. There are only 3 left.
Ooh I'm glad they turned out alright! I think the looks are mainly because I tried to fashion them like 'Pepernoten' as much as I could, so I pressed them quite tightly :-)
I'm glad to hear you like them and thank you so much for sharing your experience! :D
Everyone enjoyed them :p It's fun recipe and it's quick and easy to make. Thank you for sharing it.
Will do!
This looks delicious, thanks for sharing! :) I wonder if it would work with gluten-free flour...
Not a problem! I don't see why it shouldn't work with gluten-free flour. Maybe use some baking powder/baking soda if that's okay :-)
Thanks. I'll see how this goes when I'll make time to do some baking :)
it looks the most delicious, The formula is very useful.
It's really nice, you should definitely try it some day :D
oh i will try, but i'm not the person to work great : D
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