Advocaat

A sweet lady emailed me the other day wondering if I could assist her with finding recipes for some typical Dutch beverages. That in itself is not so difficult, but when she mentioned they had to be alcohol-free....ah.....that was a bit tougher to do. We like our beverages, we do, but apparently, we also like to spike them with plenty of booze! 

An old-fashioned, traditional, and easy to make at home drink is advocaat. Presumably first known as a tropical colonial concoction made with avocados, upon return to the blistery Netherlands, people sought out a creamy replacement for the fatty fruit and chose egg yolks instead. Smart move! Somehow advocaat with creamed avocados doesn't sound as appetizing as eh...raw eggs. Okay. Never mind :-)

Advocaat is a thick, creamy sweet drink, more often eaten with a spoon than sipped, that is also popular as an ice cream topping, as a pie filling, or flavoring for whipped cream or ice cream. Advocaat as a drink, however, has an old-fashioned feel to it: it's considered an old people's drink, predominantly for "ladies-of-a-certain-age", as my friend Hans said, who like to have it served with a dollop of whipped cream on top and eat it out of a dainty glass with a small spoon. Often, at birthdays or other celebrations,  an "advocaatje" is offered to the (older) ladies whereas the (older) men get a "borrel", a small glass of Dutch gin, jenever.

Advocaat is served and sold year-round. I never cared much for the store-bought version as it has a distinct aftertaste. However, this homemade advocaat is delightful: it's creamy, sweet, with a hint of brandy and smooth with that whipped cream. Maybe I'm slowly but surely reaching "advocaat"-age. If it is, it's surely something to look forward to! 

With the plentiful offering of affordable eggs during the upcoming Easter season, you may want to take advantage of the egg avalanche and try this recipe. The advocaat will hold well while refrigerated for about a week and makes for an interesting and welcome present. In order to avoid any possible food safety issues, you may want to use pasteurized eggs, or make sure the temperature of the advocaat reaches close to 145F for at least 15 seconds before retiring it from the boiler.

Select a smooth brandy for advocaat
Advocaat
7 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
1 cup (250 ml) brandy or vodka*
Pinch of salt

Mix the egg yolks, eggs, and sugar in a mixer until foamy, about a good four to five minutes on medium speed. Pinch a little between thumb and index fingertip to see if the sugar has dissolved, as it should not feel gritty. Slowly pour in the brandy or vodka while you keep mixing on low. 

Get a double boiler going on the stove (a pan with boiling water in the bottom and a bowl or pan that fits snuggly on top, also called bain-marie), pour the eggy mixture in the top bowl or pan, and stir until the mixture thickens. It's the heat that thickens the eggs, not the stirring itself.

Pay close attention to the heat: if the double boiler gets too hot, the eggs may curdle and the alcohol will dissipate. Pull the bowl as soon as you've reached the 145F/62C temperature (food safety), and place the bowl in an ice bath if possible - it is important that the temperature drops quickly while you keep stirring. For a smooth consistency, you may choose to pour the advocaat through a fine sieve in case you have small lumps.

After you've reached the desired thickness (you're looking for a pourable, thick puddinglike consistency), pour the advocaat in a clean jar or container and refrigerate it overnight, or serve it warm over ice cream or pancakes.



Makes approximately three cups (700 ml) of advocaat. Use the egg whites to make meringue or schuimpjes.

*If you are not fond of alcohol, make the recipe without, and flavor the advocaat with a few drops of non-alcoholic rum extract. If the custard is too thick, thin with a little bit of milk. Keep refrigerated.

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21 comments:

  1. Hans-from-CuraçaoApril 10, 2011 at 6:06 AM

    Ah yes.... the memories of "borreltijd" during the few family gatherings we had in my youth, and seeing the circle of aged aunts sitting around with their 'advocaatje' in one circle and the aged uncles with their 'jonge klare' in another! Sigh... over 45 years ago....

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  2. Hmmmmm this is very good. Much better than the store bought stuff I remember (Zwarte Kip). Thanks for sharing this Nicole :)

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  3. Nicole, I don't know about the old lady drink, I liked it since my late 20's. I'm so happy to finally find the authentic advocaat recipe here at The Dutch Table. Your blog is the wealth of wonderful dishes, some could be only found here, original, with awesome ingredients and lots of incredible history behind them. What a great place it is.

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  4. I made advocaat for the first time last night....it turned out nice and thick, viscous, like pudding, but now that I've refrigerated it overnight, its consistency is congealed and not pourable at all. is that normal?

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  5. Rick, thanks for posting! I've found that stirring the advocaat the next day will bring it back to that thick, pourable consistency. For some reason it sets up during refrigeration,not sure why. Hope that helps!

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  6. I boiled the cognac first to remove the alcohol. Unfortunately, my advocaat was colored green, like leak soup, rather than the yellow pictured above. Not sure why?

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    1. Yclept, an aluminum or iron sauce pan will often color food green through oxidation. Try using a stainless steel pan instead!

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  7. I made Advocaat for Christmas. The eggs & brandy separated. what did I do wrong? I thought I followed the recipe exactly as printed! Rose from So California.
    FYI I don't have any of the accounts listed, thus anonymous was chosen. Please reply!

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    1. Rose, you don´t tell me when they separated: if they did after you refrigerated them, it´s okay to stir the brandy back in. If they separated during cooking, the overall temperature was possibly too high, and the eggs cooked. Temper two egg yolks with some of the liquid, and then add it back in, stir until thickened (egg thickens at 150F so try to keep it around that temperature). If the original advocaat is very lumpy, you may want to pour it through a strainer first to get a smoother texture. Best of luck and happy new year!

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    2. Thank you Nicole for responding! The separation happened during refrigeration only. I did stir the brandy back into the eggnog but it did lose some thickness. Also, how long does it take to thicken in the warming up stage? I was mixing for about 30 mins on the stove. Is that normal? I'm trying to replicate my Mom's recipe from 40 yrs ago.
      It's been a tough act to follow! Thanks again for the advice! Rose

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    3. You are very welcome! The egg yolks thicken because of the heat, not because of the stirring, so there's a fine line. You can use higher heat, and it will thicken faster, but it will also reach that curdling stage quicker, where the eggs will turn into scrambled eggs. Use a thermometer that is calibrated correctly so you can keep an eye on the temp at all times. Increase the heat, stir and when it gets too close to the curdling stage, pull the bowl and let it cool down a bit, then put it back on the heat. It's a bit of work, but oh so worth it! And kudos to you for making it from scratch!

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    4. I will definitely try making advocaat again using all your techniques. I'm sure I'll get a much better product!
      Do you also have a recipe for Dutch Almond Tarts? We use to purchase them from Artesia Bakery in Artesia CA. They have since closed after 3 generations of making Dutch pastries & other baked goods. They are sorely missed! Can you help?

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  8. I also loved the almond tarts at Artesia bakery and have been looking for a recipe ever since they closed. If you have a recipe will you please post?

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  9. I would love love love to try this. I have a Thermomix, which you can set the temperature and keep it stirring, so if I set it to 60degr then that should work (theoratically!)

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  10. I was just wondering how long this lasts for in the fridge?

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  11. An advocaat (advocate) is a lawyer, no? I've heard that this was supposed to be good for your throat. (Lawyers do a lot of talking!)

    Not so sure about the connection to avocados, though...

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  12. I made Advocaat per Cees Holtkamp on You Tube. I note that Cees’ recipe has vanilla bean but I found that ended up leaving tiny specks even though I strained it per his example. He also uses vodka, not brandy although I swapped half the vodka for brandy. I looked up Advocaat in my Oma’s cookbook-really old- and it mentioned vanilla and brandewijn. Rest of recipe was pretty much the same and came out thick but not as yellow as I remember. I used double boiler and heated to 62C per Cees and I own Thermapen thermometers. I’m going to try your recipe next. Should I really aim for 150 degrees? Or 146 (63C)?

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    1. Hello OmaGijsie! The yellow will be hard to achieve without food coloring, so I usually add one or two drops of yellow food safe coloring. The advocaat made at home will be more pale. Since we can't get the traditional Dutch brandewijn here in the US, I use brandy. As for food safety temperature, 144F will do, but the yolk start thickening at a little higher temperature, at 149F. Just keep stirring, and take the pan off the heat and back on to avoid the temperature rising too much. If you do get little clumps, you can always strain them out: chef's treat ;-)

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  13. Hello, advocaat brings memories for me back also! I still have the lovely tiny silver advocaat spoons from my mother. I keep them in my “zilverkastje” Maybe I should make advocaat and start using them!

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    1. I don't know, Madeleine! Silver does alter the taste, apparently. Might be better to keep them in the zilverkastje (great word!) and enjoy the advocaat with a spoon that is less reactive. Nevertheless, I'm sure these little spoons are gorgeous to look at!

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  14. I thank you for this recipe, my husband and I are Dutch and living in New Zealand and we can not buy proper Advocaat here! We have had some bad experiences with what was supposed to be Advocaat and it turned out to be thin and tasted disgusting, not at all what we were used to in Nederland....

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