Kruidnoten – Gluten and Dairy Free

These small spice cookies are traditional Dutch Christmas cookies that make the perfect addition to your holiday baking. Plus, baking these will leave your house smelling of wonderful spices for the rest of the day.

I had a lot of fun making these cookies. They were super simple and they were very quick to prepare. The first time I made these I was able to have the dough made and cookies baked in under an hour!

The recipe does not make very many cookies so it would be easy to make before a family gathering. Or you can double (or even triple) the recipe and throw them in the freezer to save for the holidays!

Ingredients

• 3/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 1/2 tbsp. margarine (or butter), slightly softened
• 3 1/2 tsp. spice mixture
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup gluten-free flour mix
• 2 tbsp. water

Spice Mixture

• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• Pinch of white pepper
• Pinch of coriander
• Pinch of ground cardamom
• Pinch of ground mustard
• Note: this will make a little more than the Kruidnoten recipe calls for. Mix the spices together and measure out what is needed for the recipe.

Steps

Preheat oven to to 300° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream margarine and brown sugar together until fully combined. Mix in spice mixture and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl mix together the gluten-free flour and baking powder. Then slowly mix in half of the flour and add in a tablespoon of water. Slowly mix in remaining flour and add up to another tablespoon of water. The dough should be greasy but not stick to your hands.

Roll dough into small balls (around 1/2 in diameter). Place on baking sheet and flatten slightly. Cookies should be at least an inch and a half apart. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cookies are done when slightly cracked and barely give when squeezed. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on baking sheets before removing and placing them on cooling racks to cool completely.

Yields about 30 small cookies.