Name: Speculaas spice mix
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 18
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: 8 tablespoons cinnamon; 2 tablespoons nutmeg; 1,5 tablespoon cloves; 1 tablespoon ginger; 2 teaspoon cardamom; 2 teaspoon aniseed; 1 teaspoon mace; 1 teaspoon black pepper or cubeb/tailed pepper

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This recipe for speculaas spice mix is an absolute must-have in your kitchen, especially if you love speculaas! It is super easy to make and is ready in less than 5 minutes!

Speculaas spice mix is a fall and winter must-have! This spice blend is perfect for cookies, cakes, stews, drinks, and ice cream.

Now that you have a recipe for the perfect speculaas spice mix, you can finally make your speculaas and pepernoten!

The history of speculaas spice mix

One of the oldest recipes for speculaas spices that I found was in a cookbook called 'de Schrandere Stichtse Keuken-meid.' This book, written in 1754, was such a success that it was still published fifty years later under the name of 'De Nieuwe, Welervarene Utrechtsche Keuken-meid.'

The most interesting thing about the older recipes is that pepper was added to the mixture at that time. Most modern recipes are without this ingredient. This cookbook used an old pepper variety called cubeb or tailed pepper. This pepper has a more floral taste than regular black pepper but can be hard to find.

There are also a few missing ingredients that we now almost always use, such as mace, cloves, and ginger. My recipe is a mix of the old recipe from 1745 and the modern one.

Ingredients

Cinnamon - this is the main ingredient for this spice mix.

Pepper - I used black pepper in this recipe, but to make an authentic 18th-century mix, you should try to find some cubeb pepper.

Ginger - gives a little sweetness to the mix.

Cardamom - gives the mix a mild citrus flavor.

Aniseed - like ginger, aniseed gives the mix a sweet flavor.

You can find the complete ingredient list and instructions on the recipe card below!

Instructions

Add all the spices to a small bowl and mix them well. Pour them into a glass spice jar and store them in a dark place.

A mix with pepernoten, speculaas and speculaas with almond paste on a piece of paper

Speculaas vs speculoos

So can I use this recipe to make traditional speculoos cookies? No, not really. The names are often used interchangeably, but speculaas and speculoos are not the same cookie.

Speculaas is a cookie that is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, mace, and cloves. It is a traditional cookie in the Netherlands and Germany. Speculoos or Biscoff is a cookie from Belgium that only contains cinnamon or no other spices at all.

Tools you'll need

All you need to make speculaas spice mix is a small bowl to mix the spices in and glass jars to store them!

Storage

Speculaas spice mix will keep for a year in a cool dark place. You can use it after the first year, but it will start to lose its flavor like all spices.

Tip: Reuse old empty spice jars to store your speculaas mix!

Top tip

Using whole spices and grounding them yourself gives the best results, but you can use ready-ground spices!
Use old empty spice jars to save money.
Need more? This recipe is enough for about seven batches of speculaas or pepernoten. If you want to make more, just double the recipe.

I can't wait until it is November and all the shops and bakeries are filled with speculaas and other Sinterklaas treats! What is your favorite time of the year?

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