All ready to go now, for tonight

and tomorrow night

All presents come with rhymes, traditionally teasing the receiver a bit about things that happened the year before, or hinting about what’s in the package.
I wrote 32 little poems yesterday…

So, we’re off to have “pakjesavond”. Hope you all have a good weekend!

(Pakjes means presents and avond means evening so pakjesavond is the evening of presents.)

We (in the Netherlands) eat kruidnootjes at (and in the period before) the Sinterklaasfeast. Traditionally Zwarte Piet (Sinterklaas’ helper) throws them around the room.

The last time I made them was a long time ago, but the girls begged me to make them again. It’s a great thing to do with small childeren. They love making the little balls! Older children love it too, judging by the fun my big girls had today!

I tried to translate the recipe as good as possible, ask me if there is something you don’t understand! The koekkruiden mixture is mostly cinnamon and nutmeg, so you could try to mix some yourself.

“Kruidnootjes”

makes approx. 100 pieces

40 gr margarine
50 gr brown sugar
salt
1 teaspoon “koekkruiden”(a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, gingerpowder,cardamom and white pepper)
100 gr self-raising flour
1 or 2 tablespoons milk

Stir the butter with the sugar the salt and the herbs until soft. Spoon half of the flour and 1 tablespoon of milk in. Add the rest of the flour and kneed until it’s a cohesive ball (if too dry add more milk)
Make little balls (about 1 cm) and press down a little on a greased baking sheet or baking paper.

Bake in oven on 170 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!