If you can walk through West Michigan in the spring without your pulse quickening at the scent of almond paste and warm cinnamon, you might want to check your vitals. Tulip Time is creeping up, and the air already carries that friendly, sugary promise of a “just-fried” Dutch masterpiece.
I’ve spent more mornings than I can count following the aroma of pre-sunrise ovens to those neighborhood bakeries where the floors are dusted with flour and the cases are stacked with flaky banket.
There’s a certain magic in the crunch of a proper speculaas cookie or the soft, sugar-dusted sparkle of a krakeling that feels like a direct link to the Old World, served up with a side of Great Lakes hospitality…