Strooigoed / A Dutch tradition in candy

Tonight is the night! Mid November Sinterklaas arrives on his steamship all the way from Spain, loaded with presents and accompanied by his white horse Amerigo and all of his helpers. With him he carries the Big Bold Red Book in which he keeps notes from all the kids in the country and their behaviour.....were they good or bad, are they going to get presents?

Suspense builds and finally tonight he celebrates his birthday by handing out presents to all children in our country. His helpers climb down chimneys (or central heating pipes...?!) to secretly deposit presents.... For the bigger children (and adults) there will be "surprise gifts" and poems. Fun and laughter and plenty of Dutch "gezelligheid".
And candy! Lots of candy. From left to right some of the traditional candy that is typical for Sinterklaas:
Marzipan potatoes (little balls of marzipan rolled in cacao), soft sugar candy in traditional shapes (wooden shoe with a carrot for the horse, Sinterklaas himself, his helpers, windmills, steamship), modern take in wine-gum, and a spiced cookie log filled with almond paste.
This year I finally managed to make speculaas and use my wooden stamps successfully! I did make speculaas before, wrestled the molds, got frustrated and cheated by using cutters to form cookies. This is a brand new mold, but even my old/antique one worked this time. I think it's all about the texture of your dough and flouring the mold just so. I used Lien's recipe this time (great tutorial! in English and Dutch), and followed Gea's advice (Dutch but great pics!) to use a brush for flouring the mold.

There are many recipes out there so I won't repeat them here, basics are chilled and rested dough (preferrably one night) and the use of "speculaas" spices. These spice mix is found in any Dutch supermarket this time of year, there are two varieties, "koekkruiden" (cookie spice), or "speculaas" spice. The difference between the two is in the addition of cloves in the speculaas spices. In some mixes you'll find coriander and orange peel as well. Make your own mix:

8 ts ground cinnamon
2 ts ground nutmeg
2 ts ground cloves
1 ts ground white pepper
1 ts ground ginger
1 ts ground cardamom or anise
The spices used reflect the Dutch heritage in spice travel, going back to the Golden Age.

(Found at Coquinaria which is a great collection of historical recipes in Dutch and English).

Oh....and of course.... if you make the dough recipe and won't have time nor patience (or access) to handle the molds, call your children to the kitchen table and plan an afternoon of fun: roll "pepernoten" (peppernuts), even the smallest kids can join in. Just take marble sized pieces of dough and roll between the palms of your hand. Go Dutch traditional and serve hot chocolate, sing the Sinterklaas songs!(click on one of the titles to hear children sing our traditional songs.

Btw... the dough itself is perfect to snack on....

Just in case you thought I covered it all....no way! There is so much more:

Ik wens iedereen een hele fijne en gezellige Sinterklaas avond!