Sue Gazdo with her delicious speculaas koekjes made from a Dutch recipe for The Rep Book Club. The taste was complex and rich due to the many spices: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, anise, ginger, and cardamon. Only a few of those would have been available during the 1500s period of AMSTERDAM ASCENDANT, but more will be during the novel's sequel, when Amsterdam ramps up its East Indies spice trade.