St. Nicholas Cookie Legend
 | St. Nicholas lived in a windmill by the sea. |
 | Early in the morning, the rooster crowed to wake St. Nicholas so he could get ready to visit children. |
 | All day long St. Nicholas rode his horse from orphanage to orphanage. |
 | St. Nicholas gave cookies to all the girls and boys. |
 | St. Nicholas visited children all day long, until late evening when the owl sang him to sleep. |
The Steenstra family immigrated from the Netherlands to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1920. In 1947 they built a bakery to make their family's delicious speculaas cookie recipe. Dutch speculaas cookies became known as "Windmill Cookies" in the US. After fire burned the bakery in 1988 the family rebuilt in Hudsonville, a town west of Grand Rapids. The Steenstra's St. Claus cookies are still made from the original family recipe, using only natural ingredients and no preservatives. There are twenty cookies in a package.
WINDMILL: Because Santa Claus lives in a windmill.
ROOSTER: Because Santa Claus starts his day at sun-up.
SANTA CLAUS ON A HORSE: He makes presents for children.
BOY AND GIRL: Love to receive presents.
OWL: Because Santa Claus works till sun-down.
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Steenstra's Cookies were bought by Joanne and Harold Voorhees in 1994. They have honored the recipe and history of the company. They have also developed custom cookies under the Cookies Unique label.
Cookies are available online from VanderVeen's The Dutch Store, Peters Gourmet Market, and by the case from amazon.com. They are also available from Meijer and SpartanNash (Family Fare, etc) stores in the midwest, and Publix Super Markets in Florida. You are on St. Nicholas Center website; we are not Steenstra's.
