Oliebollenbroodschotel

Bread puddings, or broodschotels, as they are called in Dutch, occupied a steady section in older cookbooks, but as of late I don't see them as much, which is a pity. Especially nowadays, when frugality seems to be a wise choice, sweet or savory bread puddings may play a big role in providing sustenance for a small budget. The Dutch are traditionally big bread eaters, with usually two meals in the day consisting of bread, and on top of that we're pretty frugal, so it is not surprising that cookbooks from mid-last century had that many broodschotel recipes. The concept was easy: tear or slice up old bread, soak it in a mixture of milk and egg, add flavorings, and bake in the oven or in a frying pan, as is the case with wentelteefjes. 

 "Wie wat bewaard, die heeft wat" said my oma Pauline triumphantly many times, "he who saves something, has something". She lived through the two wars and was resourceful and frugal, a quality that many of us will recognize in our parents and grandparents who lived through those times. Saving is one type of skill, and so is making leftovers into another tasty dish, so that food does not go to waste. And that is so true for today's leftovers, oliebollen from New Year's Eve. Oliebollen are best freshly fried, but make for a wonderful bread pudding. So, IF there are any left or if you have a chance to bake some extra and set them aside, this may be a great way to welcome the new year: bread puddings are a lovely treat for breakfast! 

And as with so many of our recipes, make this your own. If you like raisins, you can always sprinkle  them in with the sliced oliebollen, or add a chopped apple, dried apricots, or leftover cranberry sauce from your Christmas dinner, a handful of walnuts......as you can see there are plenty of opportunities to come up with a new family favorite!  

Oliebollenbroodschotel

8 oliebollen

1 tablespoon butter (15 grams)

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1/2 cup (125 ml cream)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Optional: dried fruits, apple slices, vanilla pudding, cinnamon, powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 375F. Butter a casserole or baking dish. Slice the oliebollen and place them upright, alternating, in the casserole, so that they're nice and snug. Mix the milk with the cream and the sugar, and warm slightly on the stove, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the stove, let it cool down to lukewarm, beat the eggs and stir into the milk, together with the vanilla. Pour over the oliebollen in the dish, but make sure that the liquid stays beneath the casserole line. 

Bake on a baking tray for 25 - 30 minutes. As the top oliebollen stay exposed (and crisp up) you may want to check after 15 minutes to make sure they're not burning. If they are getting too dark, cover the dish with aluminum foil. 

Sprinkle with cinnamon, and/or powdered sugar, or serve with warm vanilla pudding or custard. 

Oliebollen

There must be something in the human psyche that makes us want to celebrate the ending of another year by eating copious amounts of rich foods, and by stuffing ourselves with large quantities of sugar and butter, all doused in a consistent flow of adult and non-adult beverages. It's as if we were saying: "Well, I made it another year, you can't take THAT away from me!" while shaking a fat finger in the face of the inevitable.

New Year's Eve in Holland is a great example of mindset. What better way to ring in the New Year, we seem to think, than by eating deep-fried dough balls and batter coated apple slices?

Oliebollen (literally "balls of oil") and appelbeignets are a standard fare during the holiday season. The raisins and apples in the dough can hardly be considered a nutritional advantage, but it's one of those once-a-year treats that one looks forward to!

I love oliebollen but can only stomach about two. The usual amounts given in recipes are for 30 or more. Here's one that makes about eight oliebollen. Use peanut, soybean or sunflower oil in your fryer to fry these, not shortening. Oliebollen are good cold too, with a hot cup of coffee and some extra powdered sugar.

Oliebollen
1/3 cup (50 gr) mixed dried fruits (raisins, currants) 

2 (7 gr) teaspoons active dry yeast 

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk, warm 

1 cup (150 gr) all purpose flour 

pinch of lemon zest
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 (10 gr) tablespoon butter, softened 

1 heaping tablespoon powdered sugar

Soak the dried fruits in some rum, orange juice or warm water several hours before, preferably the night prior to the frying. It's traditional to use currants and raisins, but fresh or dried apples, apricots, cherries are all very nice as well. Drain the fruits before you add them to the batter, and spread them out a bit so they can air-dry.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. Mix the flour and the lemon zest, and stir in the milk and yeast mix. Add the salt, the egg and the butter and stir the batter for several minutes until everything is nicely blended. Stir in the drained raisins. Cover and let rise until it doubled its volume.

In the meantime, heat the oil in the fryer up to 350F/175C. Place a plate with several paper towels to soak up the excess fat of the fried goods. Use a large spoon or an ice cream scoop (see suggestions below) to scoop out a portion, drop it into the hot oil and fry for about four minutes on each side or until brown. Dipping the scoop or spoon in the hot oil before each scoop will make it easier to drop the batter into the oil. It's important to gauge the temperature of your oil: too hot an oil will scorch the outside but leave the inside of the balls uncooked. A low temperature will not fry the balls fast enough and they will become "sinkers": oil-saturated and inedible.

Drain the balls on paper towels, then transfer onto a new plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.




Oliebollen on the left, appelbeignets on the right....
Happy New Year!

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Sneeuwballen

The end of the year is celebrated in Holland as it is in so many other countries: friends and family gather, with good food, lovely drinks and with a certain sense of excitement about the change of the year that will happen at midnight. It's virtually the same in many other places in the world, but what sets the Dutch apart is the food that we eat to celebrate the event with: deep-fried goodies such as oliebollen or deep-fried dough balls (presumably the predecessor of the American donut), deep-fried apple slices (appelbeignets)and many other goodies that are available from stands around town or made at home that help us slide into the new year with a greasy grin and a full belly.

One of those golden, deep-fried beauties that shows up in every older Dutch recipes cookbook is the so-called "sneeuwbal", or snowball. A deep-fried (what else?) puffy ball of dough, studded with raisins and candied fruits, filled with whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar, used to be standard fare for the New Year's celebration, cozily sharing a platter with the formerly mentioned oliebollen and appelbeignets. In later Dutch cookbooks, the sneeuwballen are no longer mentioned.

And I am *not* surprised! This is the third year I try to make these things and I've just about given up. For some reason I just can't get them to puff up in the hot oil and instead of snowballs, I get lumps. Ugly, squishy, heavy, oily lumps, no matter how low I turn the heat. So, as so many times before, I re-read all the recipes in the cookbooks, went back online, and re-read every possible online snowball recipe to see what I could have missed. I just about started to suspect that nobody had actually ever made these themselves but just copied the recipe ad nauseam, until I came across a short video from nobody else but Cees Holtkamp. Yes, that Cees Holtkamp, possibly the most famous patissier in Holland.

And guess what? Instead of deep-frying them, he bakes them, just like Bossche Bollen or bananensoezen. He must have had no luck with frying them either, is my guess. (Just kidding, Mr. Holtkamp, just kidding!!) So if Cees bakes them, so can I! Problem solved and pride a tad less damaged. Here we go!

Sneeuwballen
1 cup of water
4 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of flour
4 eggs
Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of candied fruit mix
1 tablespoon of raisins

16 oz of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar

Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil. Pour the flour in and stir until the flour comes together in a ball, and clings to the spoon. Take the pan off the stove and stir in the eggs, one at a time, until the dough is shiny and has absorbed all the egg. Carefully fold in the candied fruit mix and the raisins.

Preheat the oven to 375F. On a silicone mat or on parchment paper on a baking sheet, place large heaps of batter, or pipe them. This will make 12 medium size puffs or 6 large ones.

Bake them for twenty five minutes or until golden and puffy. In the meantime, beat the whipping cream stiff with four tablespoons of powedered sugar. When the puffs have cooled, fill a pastry bag with a star tip with the whipped cream, insert the tip in the bottom and fill the snowballs up with whipped cream.

Sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar and serve.

Wishing everybody a wonderful, healthy and fun filled 2012!

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!!!!!!

Get busy baking! (I really should)

It's that time of the year -lovely speculaas smells should be wafting from my kitchen, trays and trays of cookies ought to be cooling down while I whip up frosting...but no such luck. Once again, the holiday season has snuck up on me. Every single year, when the first day of December hits, I have great plans to show off my culinary prowess: this year, I tell myself, I am going to do it all. For the Sinterklaas celebration I will bake gevulde speculaas, speculaasbrokken and kruidnoten.

And then, I seriously mean it, between then and Christmas, I will bake a Kerststol for every weekend breakfast, make borstplaat to set out on the living room table for guests, I am going to make kerstkransjes to hang in the tree, and while I am at it, I may give schuimpjes a go. Not because they are necessarily a part of the winter holidays, but because they're so nice and light to eat.

And I, every December, solemnly SWEAR that THIS year, I will fry enough oliebollen, appelbeignets and sneeuwballen to share with friends so that we can all enjoy a great celebration and ending of the year.

But what happens e-v-e-r-y single time? That's right, life interferes with my carefully planned baking schedule! See, it's December 17 now, and what have I accomplished so far? Of all the amazing and lekkere plans, so far I've only tested a new oliebollen recipe (I decided to stick with my own) and made a small batch of gevulde speculaas. But I promptly forgot to take it out of the oven after baking, so it was harder than a rock (I still ate it because nobody else was going to make one!).

Today, I am finally baking a Kerststol (yay me!) for the first time this season. This year, again, nobody has seen (or will see, for that matter) any kruidnoten or speculaasbrokken emerge from my kitchen, unless I buy them from a Dutch store, and you can forget about the borstplaat altogether - it's not going to happen this year!!! Geef mijn portie maar aan Fikkie, like my mug says!

On one hand it bothers me that I can't get everything done that I wanted to - but I also realize that, while I am not in the kitchen, I am tending to work, school, pets, students, family members, friends and life in general. And that's okay, too. This holiday season will still happen, whether I bake or not!

Perhaps you are a kitchen goddess with all the time in the world, or maybe you are a bit like me, happy when life takes a step back so I can bake some of our heritage recipes that remind me of home, family or loved ones. Regardless of where you are in the baking spectrum, enjoy the upcoming holidays, don't be too hard on yourself and do the best you can! There is always next year :-)

What's baking in your kitchen this week?

Staphorster Fleeren

I love how in the small country of the Netherlands (16,000 square miles, just a tad bigger than Maryland in the US), there are still so many regional differences in food and traditions, especially on festive days. We have just seen and enjoyed our New Year's Eve traditional foods, like oliebollen, appelbeignets, kniepertjes and so on, and now, on New Year's Day we welcome another set of traditional treats, many with a significant meaning. For example, the open crispy waffles called kniepertjes (from knijpen, to pinch, indicating the way the dough is pinched between the waffle irons) that is traditional in de Achterhoek area, on the east side of the country, is now served rolled up into a tight tube, and are called rollegies (from rollen, to roll). The kniepertjes symbolize an open book, and is therefore served on New Year's eve, when the whole past year has been lived out and does not hold any more surprises. Rollegies in turn represent a wrapped up, closed book, one that still has to reveal what is in store, and is therefore served on New Year's Day, January 1st. Isn't that a lovely thought? 

Today's waffles, Staphorster Fleeren, come from Staphorst, a small village in the province of Overijssel, east of Amsterdam and bordering Germany. Traditionally, they were served on New Year's Day, with a strong cup of coffee or tea. These are sturdy waffles, made with rye and wheat flour, an egg, some milk, and anise seeds. My first thought was that the rye made for a good stomach filling, and that the anise would soothe any possible, let's say, discomforts, from too much partying the night before. That is just my theory, of course, but it seemed like a good one. Its sparse and basic recipe also reflects a little bit the philosophy of the Staphorsters: they have a strong faith, falling somewhere between Calvinism and Lutheranism, and generally do without too much fancy stuff. Oddly enough though, I read in an older cookbook, the name "fleeren" means "slapping", and it's said that the waffles have to be soft enough to slap somebody in the face with. Well! 

I am not going to promote using these waffles to inflict harm on anybody, especially not on New Year's Day, but I can highly recommend them as a sturdy, stomach-soothing start of the day. The rye makes for a chewier waffle, the anise is comforting. Save the waffles in a cookie tin so that they remain soft. For an early breakfast, I also liked them with a lick of butter (but don't be telling anybody). 

Staphorster Fleeren

1 cup (125 grams) rye flour

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (65 grams) brown sugar, packed

1 heaping teaspoon anise seeds

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 stick (50 grams) butter, melted

2 eggs

1/4 cup (100 grams) pancake syrup

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk

Mix the two flours, and add them to a bowl. Stir the sugar, the anise seeds, and the baking powder into the dry mix. In another bowl mix the melted butter, the eggs, the pancake syrup and the milk, then fold the wet into the dry mix. Stir well until all lumps have been removed. Rest the thick batter for about 15 minutes, then heat up the waffle iron. Scoop the dough onto the hot plates, bake the waffles until light brown, and serve warm. Save in a cookie tin to keep soft. Makes 8-10 waffles.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 Let's get through the next few days unscathed, so we can get ready for oliebollen time!

Brinta

The month of December is one of our sweetest and richest months, food-wise. We kick off the festivities with Sinterklaas and all his goodies, then move onto Christmas where we eat and indulge in more sweets, baked goods and candies, and we wrap up the year with Oudjaarsavond, New Year's Eve, where oliebollen and appelbeignets will be a mandatory part of the celebrations. Inbetween eating, cooking, baking and shopping, I sometimes crave just a simple bowl of good old-fashioned porridge. If it's later in the evening, I might indulge in some bierpap, but for a solid start of the day I often get a bowl of homemade Brinta.

Growing up in the Netherlands, a child's palate is subjected to a vast array of pap, or porridges. It usually starts out with Bambix, a creamy, sweet porridge of mixed grains that is mixed with milk and given to toddlers and preschoolers. It is comforting, velvety and has a tender and sweet taste.

When you're a little older and have been graced with teeth, regardless of whether you're sporting a "fietsenrek" or a full set of pearly whites, you traditionally "graduate" to a grown-up version of Bambix, a so-called porridge called Brinta.

Made only with whole wheat flour, Brinta could either make or break your day. If you were at the breakfast table the moment the hot milk was mixed in with the powdery flakes, life was good. If you were but five minutes late, to where the porridge had cooled considerably and the fibers had had an opportunity to soak up all the liquid, your lovely, warm, early morning breakfast was now fit for slicing. It had turned into a cold, lumpy, mushy bowl of wet concrete. Ewww!

Permission granted Brinta

Brinta, short for Breakfast Instant Tarwe (wheat), was created in the province of Groningen in 1944. The partially English name was given to the product as a tender (or commercially sound) gesture to the English and American armed forces who were stationed in our country during that time, and who were much more familiar with robuster breakfast grains. In 1963, the year of the coldest Elfstedentocht yet, the winner of this long distance skating event happened to mention that all he had had for breakfast was "een bordje Brinta" (a serving of Brinta porridge). The connection between sports and Brinta was made, and it continues to this day.

Since then, Brinta has expanded their product line with breakfast beverages, a variety of porridges or mush and even loaves of bread, all made with the goodness of whole wheat flour. It is available in Canada but not in the United States, unless you purchase it from a Dutch food importer. A similar product is possible to make at home.

Brinta(-ish)
3 tablespoons (25 grams) whole wheat unbleached flour
3 tablespoons (45 ml) milk
2 cups (500 ml) milk
4 tablespoons (30 grams) whole wheat bran (optional, not in original product)
Pinch of salt

Mix the flour with the tablespoons of milk and make it into a paste. Bring the two cups of milk to a simmer, and stir in the flour paste. Stir to dissolve, and add in the (optional) whole wheat bran and the salt. Bring everything to a boil and continue to stir while the porridge thickens, for about five minutes. Depending on how thick or thin you like your pap, adjust the amount of bran accordingly!

Serve with brown or white sugar, and eat hot!

Poffertjes

Poffertjes... the name alone invokes visions of carnivals, festivities and palatal pleasure. Even saying it brings joy to the vocal cords. You can't say poffertjes (POH-fur-tjes) without a smile on your face, try it!

Poffertjes are an integral part of national holidays, summer festivals and fun celebrations. During the Christmas and New Year season, you will find poffertjes vendors on every Christmas market, usually right next to that other holiday treat, oliebollen. 

A recipe for poffertjes (also known as bollebuisjes or broedertjes) first appears in a cookbook from the mid 1700s. Made exclusively with buckwheat flour, water and yeast, it was considered a poor man's meal. Buckwheat only grows on arid, poor ground and provided poor farmers with the necessary substance. And you can see why: a plate full of hot pancakes, covered with powdered sugar and a rapidly melting piece of butter will give anybody enough energy to get back out there and take on the weather elements. Later recipes call for wheat flour, milk and eggs, but always keep yeast as a leavener which gives it its puffiness.

When the Dutch settlers came to America, they brought the poffertjes and the pan they're made in with them. In James Eugene Farmer's book "Brinton Eliot, from Yale to Yorktown" we read: "On the evening of the 4th of May, Jans and Hybert Weamans were seated near the trap-door of the cellar, smoking, drinking beer, and eating puffards from the puffet-pan." Puffards, puffets, bollebouches.......they're all the same name for our beloved poffertjes.

Made on a dimpled cast iron pan for the home cook, or commercially on large copper dimpled plates as seen in the pictures below, poffertjes can also be made at home on a griddle if you don't have a poffertjespan. Just place tablespoons of batter on the slightly greased surface and turn them with the tine of a fork when the outside rim has dried up a bit and bubbles come to the surface. Their name comes from the way these small pancakes act once you turn them over: they puff up.

Traditionally served with powdered sugar and a healthy chunk of butter, poffertjes are a welcome treat!

The buckwheat flour we have access to here in the United States is much darker than the light, white version that is used in northern Europe. If you can find it, substitute half of the flour for light buckwheat flour. There is a link under Shop For This Recipe.

Poffertjes
1 cup (250 ml) warm milk
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
2 eggs
Pinch salt
Powdered sugar
Butter

Sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm milk and set aside to proof. When ready, mix the flour with the eggs and slowly add the milk, beating well and making sure there are no lumps. Add in the pinch of salt. Cover and set aside to rise, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Heat the pan and lightly butter each dimple. Pour a small amount of batter into each dimple. I prefer to pour the batter in a squeeze bottle of which I have removed part of the tip: it allows me to control the amount of batter for each dimple.

When the sides dry up a bit and bubbles appear on the surface, use the tin of a fork to flip the poffertjes over. Take a peek here if you're not sure how to do this! This takes a bit of practice, but not to worry, even the spoils will taste good!

Serve hot, sprinkle with powdered sugar and a piece of butter.

Shop for this recipe

Drentse Turfkoek

This week, I spent some time editing and posting videos on our YouTube channel about the province of Drenthe and its role in peat production during the last two centuries. Commercial peat logging started in the second half of the 19th century and lasted until the middle of the 20th century, but as early as the 16th century, the people in the Netherlands used dried peat (turf in Dutch) to heat their homes. 

Logging the raised bogs caused the landscape to change drastically, as you can imagine, as several canals were dug to benefit the transportation of the fossil fuel. For a short while, people from all over the country moved to Drenthe to try their luck in the industry, but life as a peat laborer was tough. When newer sources of fuel emerged, such as the Limburg coal, the peat industry dwindled quickly. Fortunately, it prevented the province from losing all of its natural beauty, so if you find yourself in the Netherlands with some time on your hands, it is an interesting destination to visit. 

And when you do, you will see that Drenthe embraces its turf history with gusto. A typical product that you will find at local bakeries, and slices of it offered with your cup of coffee, is the Drenthse turfkoek, a turf cake, so called because of its appearance. Its shape, elongated and rounded at the edges, is said to mimic the shape of a peat log. This is a fairly new invention, which results in different bakers using a variety of approaches, all tasty and delicious. The main ingredients are koekkruiden (a mix of herbs and spices), brown sugar, milk, and dried fruits and nuts. I used brandied walnuts, raisins (boerenjongens), and apricots (boerenmeisjes) from my oliebollen baking on New Year's eve, but you can also use apple, chocolate chips, or anything else that you fancy. You're looking for a sturdy cake with lots of chunky fillings, much like a peat log, but better tasting :-)

If you don't have an oval tin to bake in, you can easily use an 8 x 4, or a 9 x 5 cake form. 

Drentse Turfkoek

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (250 grams)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (150 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
3 teaspoons koekkruiden*
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (75 grams)
3/4 cup dried fruits (currants, raisins, apricots...)** (100 grams)
1 egg
1 cup milk (250 ml)

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Mix the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices, walnuts, dried fruits). Beat the egg with the milk and pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry mix. 

Grease a baking form, pour in the batter, and bake at 325F for 40 minutes, or until the cake is done. Test for doneness with a toothpick or metal skewer: if it comes out dry, the cake is done. 

Cool on a rack for five to ten minutes, then take out of the form and wrap in clingfilm. As the cake does not have any fat, it will dry out faster, so keep it wrapped. 

Dust lightly with powdered sugar, and slice in thick slices, slather with butter (or not) and serve with a cup of coffee or tea. 

* For koekkruiden, mix 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon with 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper, and, if you have it, 1/8 teaspoon of dried orange peel. If you like the flavor of anise, add a 1/8th teaspoon of ground anise to give it a special twist. Smell and decide if you like it.  You are welcome to make it your very own, but make sure you write down the quantities and ingredients so you can replicate your personal recipe. Store in an airtight jar. You can also use speculaaskruiden which have the addition of 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves. 

**soak your dried fruit in warm water for thirty minutes, then drain and pat dry before folding in the flour

Tomatenschoteltje

There is an abundance of "schoteltje" recipes in our traditional kitchen, like "broodschoteltje", "macaronischoteltje", "beschuitschoteltje", "rijstschoteltje". It appears to be a collective name for predominantly sweet dessert dishes, but not always, like today's savory dish. 

I don't really have a good translation for the "schoteltje" part. Schoteltje literally means "small dish". The recipes themselves fall somewhere between small casseroles, au gratin dishes, or cocottes - but they're not always a full-blown casserole, which would imply cooking for a lengthy time in the oven using raw ingredients (because that would be an "ovenschotel", an oven dish), and not all recipes require gratin, and sometimes cocottes are initially meant to contain personal servings, which also doesn't apply. So for now, I am going with the unsatisfactory English name of "dish". Maybe you can help me come up with something better? 

Most schoteltje recipes are generated straight out of our frugal tendencies: they use up old bread, leftover rice or pasta, even oliebollen, and often incorporate eggs, a food that is still affordable for most. So too this recipe, that uses up a glut of tomatoes, a handful of leftover shredded cheese, and a few eggs.

This recipe is a great lunch or brunch dish: tomatoes stuffed with cheesy scrambled egg, topped with bacon, and baked in the oven until the skin and flesh of the tomatoes softens and become jammy. Together with a green salad, or a few slices of bread or toast, it's a satisfying meal, and an affordable one. 

Tomatenschoteltje

4 large tomatoes

5 eggs

1 cup (100 grams) shredded cheese

4 strips bacon

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Herbs (optional)

Cut the top of the tomatoes, and put the caps aside for now. Hollow the tomatoes out with the help of a spoon. Save the seeds, or puree the tomato pulp and save it for soups. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on the inside of each tomato, and place it upside down in the dish. In the meantime, crack the eggs and whisk them, then melt the butter in a skillet. Add the egg mix, and when it starts to set, scramble the eggs with the cheese. Season with salt and pepper and herbs, if desired. Don't overcook the eggs.

Heat the oven to 400F/200C. Turn the tomatoes right side up, stuff them with the scrambled eggs, and top each one with a strip of bacon. Replace the cap, add a little bit of water to the bottom of the dish, and bake the tomatoes for 20 - 25 minutes, until the caps are slightly shriveled and the tomatoes are starting to burst. 

Serve warm, with toast, or a green salad. Eet smakelijk!

Slemp

Happy New Year!! Today is January 1st, the first day of a new year. After a whole month of eating, visiting, partying, and coming up with all kinds of good intentions for the new year, today is a good day to go "uitwaaien", to let the wind blow the cobwebs from our brain, to air out the stuffiness from too much sitting inside and being cooped up with other people. (Our Calvinistic upbringing is probably reprimanding us that we've done too much indulging and that it's time to get back to normal) So get your coats on, bring hats and mittens, and let's go for a brisk walk: on the beach, in the forest, or in the city parks. 

It doesn't matter where you go, as long as you go. If you're out and about today in the Netherlands, you'll see that many with you are "uitwaaien"- it's traditional to seek out nature, and the country has many places where we can get out and about. Several brave souls even venture out into the North Sea for a quick New Year's dip in its icy waters! 

And after a long, chilly, brisk walk (or swim), there's nothing more gezellig than to come back to the house and have a warm glass of slemp, a flavorful hot tea drink made from milk, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, and sugar. It's traditionally a new year's drink: its warm spices and milk nourish the body and the brain (and is said to restrain regurgitating reflexes for those that partied a bit too hard last night). It's also the perfect drink to finish the leftover oliebollen from last night with :-)

Wrap your cold hands around a warm mug, sit back and put your feet up, sip slowly, and let's make a plan to get the most out of the new year that we can. We have 365 days of adventure, miracles, new directions, and excitement ahead of us - let's make it count! 

Slemp

2 cups milk (500 ml)

3 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 heaping teaspoon tea leaves, or 1 tea bag

Pinch of saffron

2 tablespoons sugar (or sweetener of choice)

Simmer the milk with the cloves, the cinnamon stick, the tea leaves, and the saffron until warm and flavorful, about fifteen minutes on low. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Makes 2 cups.

Appelbeignets (2 recipes)

Sometimes, things just don´t go as planned. I know, I know....one of those ¨"such is life" things... But I had really planned on making sugary snowballs tonight. Snowballs are made of a light choux dough, fried in oil, then filled with whipped cream and dusted with powdered sugar. Yep, a real carb killer, but what a great way to wrap up the old year with something that has at least two out of the five funky food groups (i.e. fat and sugar)!

I started late and a little hurried, couldn´t get the right consistency and the snowballs turned out to be little golf balls instead. Very dark brown with a raw center, yuk!!! So after another batch and still getting the same results, I decided that it was too late for snowballs and too late for oliebollen (the yeast dough has to sit and rise for a while). Hurray for never-fail-favorites, because I made appelbeignets instead and they were fabulous, as always. They´re apple slices, dipped in batter, then fried in oil. Technically not a donut at all, but the cored apple slices do give it a donut-esque appearance.

This kind is perfect if you're consuming them fairly quickly, the day or evening of, as the batter does tend to do a bit soft after the appelbeignet sits for a while. But sometimes you need them to last longer - you may want to take them to work, share with neighbors or friends, or you don't want to spend the whole day in the kitchen smelling like fryer oil. In that case, scroll down to method number 2, the puff pastry appelbeignet! This kind will hold up overnight and keep crisp and flaky.

It´s hard to mess up an appelbeignet. The apple brings some lightness, albeit subtle, to the oily coating and adds a pleasant sweetness. Any good baking apple will work (Jonagolds, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady etc) except for the Granny Smith: too tangy, too juicy and it doesn't hold up well. I used Golden Delicious for this recipe. The recipe below is enough for 10 appelbeignets.

Appelbeignets (Batter)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
2 apples, peeled (optional) and cored
1/4 cup all purpose flour (30 gr.)
1/4 cup milk (60 ml)
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Slice the apples in rings, about 1/4 inch thick. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the apple slices. Set aside. Mix the flour, milk, egg, baking powder and salt together for a batter. Use a little bit more milk if the batter is too thick. Put the slices in the batter and coat them on both sides, then drop each slice of apple carefully into the hot oil (190C/375F).

Turn over when they're golden brown on one side and fry the other side, remove when both sides are done. That should not take long - a couple of minutes at best. Drain on a paper towel to capture the excess oil and transfer to a new plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat while warm.

This batter is a very neutral one and can be used for a variety of fruits. Try bananas (cut a small banana in half lengthwise and then each part in half), pineapple rings (drain on a paper towel before adding to the batter) or add some cinnamon or flavoring to the batter itself. There is no sugar in the batter to avoid excessive and premature browning.

Appelbeignets (Puff Pastry)
10 squares puff pastry (5x5 inches)
4 medium sized apples
2 tablespoons sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

Lay out the puff pastry squares on a baking sheet or cutting board so they can thaw, while you peel and core the apples.

Slice the apples into thick slices, about 3/4 inch or so. Brush down a puff pastry square with a little bit of water (just barely moisten it), lay the apple slice in the middle and top with another square. Use your fingers to press down the top around the apple, then cut it with a cutter, or a cup or bowl that fits around the apple, leaving a little bit of space between the apple and the edge.

Heat the oil to 375F/190C and fry the apple beignets for 7 minutes, 3.5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Let them cool on a rack. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, and dip both sides of the beignet in the cinnamon sugar before serving. 

Alternatively, you can also bake them in the oven. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle the top only with the sugar and cinnamon before baking for about fifteen minutes approx.  Check product instructions for oven temperature recommendations, or bake at 200C/400F.

P.S. You can also use pineapple rings (let dry on paper towel before).

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Berliner Bollen

There is nothing new about Berliner bollen, these Berlin doughnuts, as their recipe has been circulating around the northern parts of Germany since the 16th century, but there is something intriguing about them: any and all countries that fry these delicious, jam-filled treats call them Berliner doughnuts, except for the people of Berlin, who call them Krapfen or Pfannkuchen (literally pancakes). That in itself is confusing as we know pancakes to be very different to what we're looking at here. And so does the rest of Germany, who call pancakes pancakes, except for the Berlin people who call them Eierkuchen, egg cakes. And of course in the Netherlands, we know egg cakes to be eierkoeken, which is a totally different thing altogether. I guess it pays to know what certain foods are called locally when you have your heart set on something specific! 

Berliner bollen are traditionally eaten for New Year's Eve, as well as at Carnival. They eventually made their way to the US and can be found under the name Bismarcks, especially in the Midwest. As for fillings, they can be found with any kind of jam filling: cherry, raspberry, strawberry, apricot...But they can also be split in half and filled with pastry cream, or whipped cream and fresh fruit. Speaking of fillings, for April Fools, sometimes the Germans randomly fill several bollen with mustard and place them among the jam-filled ones. "Rare jongens, die Germanen", would Obelix have said! 

Now, you may ask, why am I reading about German food on a Dutch recipe website?  Well, because as is a neighboring country, Berliner bollen are a staple at any good Dutch bakery and definitely a favorite memory of my childhood in Limburg. Ours were always filled with apricot jam which, because of its tartness, has a nice way of cutting through the sugar and grease of the dough itself. And it's perhaps of our proximity to Germany, we also celebrated New Year's with Berliner bollen, next to the oliebollen and appelbeignets. So in case you've got some extra time on your hands, and you're firing up the fryer anyway, why not make a couple of these as well? You probably have all the ingredients at hand already, it's an easy recipe and it provides another variety to the table. 

Berliner Bollen

2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (125 ml) warm milk

1.5 tsp dry yeast 

2 eggs

4 Tbsp (50 grams) butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (150 grams) sugar

3/4 cup (200 grams approx.) jam 

Optional: piping bag with pointed pastry tip

In a bowl, mix the flour with the sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, proof the yeast with the warm milk for a few minutes, until the yeast gets frothy. Stir in the milk and the eggs with the flour, give it a good stir until the dough comes together, and then knead in the room temperature butter. Knead for a good two to three minutes, until you have a soft dough. Form into a ball, and let it rest, covered until doubled in size. 

When doubled in size, divide the dough into ten 2 oz pieces (approx. 60 grams each) and roll them into balls. Cover again and let rise until doubled in size. When they're ready, heat up the deep fryer to 330F/170C and carefully lower the dough balls into the oil. Fry them on both sides for about 2 to 3 minutes or until golden and remove from the oil. Let drain on paper towels. 

When they've cooled down a little bit, pour the sugar in a bowl, and roll the Berliners through the sugar. Fill a piping bag with jam, and fill each doughnut with jam. If the jam is too thick to make it through the pastry tip, thin it with a little bit of water. Alternatively, you can cut the doughnut in half, and spread the jam in between the two halves. 

Oubliewafels met slagroom

Summertime is Kermis time! If you grew up in the Netherland as a kid, at some point or another the kermis (fair) would have come to town. The zweefmolen (merry-go-round), reuzerad (ferris wheel), the botsautootjes (bumper cars), and the rups (the caterpillar) were popular choices, the latter especially with young couples as a green canopy would close over the cars, allowing the teenagers a quick kiss away from prying eyes. 

All those gravity and g-force defying attractions were lost on me however, as the first things I would seek out is the gebakskraam (the pastry booth), the snoepkraam (the candy booth) and the schietkraam (the shooting gallery). If the gebakskraam had oubliewafels and oliebollen, if the snoepkraam had giant spekkies (marshmallows) and wijnballen (large hard red candy globes), and if the shooting gallery had tin cans as targets (they were a lot easier to hit, guaranteeing me a stuffed toy or a goldfish!), it was a great funfair in my eyes! 

I was reminded of those grand times when I read that the Kermis, as a culture, had been added to the ever growing list of Dutch cultural heritages. Memories came flooding back, and I instantly had a craving for oubliewafels from the gebakskraam at the fair: crispy, sweet waffles rolled into a large tube, and filled with sweet whipped cream. These fall into the category of tricky-pastries-to-eat, like the tompouce or the Bossche Bol, because one bite into the waffle may cause the cream to shoot out the other end, so you've been warned ;-) 

The oubliewafels are rolled a bit larger than rollegies, for example, so find a handle, or dowel with a larger circumference, approx. 1 inch (approx. 2.5 cm). You will need a waffle iron for ice cream cones or pizzelles. 

Oubliewafels met slagroom

6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter (soft)
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
2 eggs
2 cups (250 grams) flour
2 cups (500 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Optional: colored sprinkles

Cream the butter with the sugar until it's pale and fluffy, about five to six minutes, at medium speed. Add the vanilla flavoring, and add one egg at a time until it's absorbed into the mix. Fold in the flour a few spoonfuls at a time until the dough is soft but homogenous. 

Divide into ten equal pieces (easier if you have a scale!), and roll into balls. Place on a plate, cover and put in the fridge for about half an hour. 

Heat the waffle iron. Place one dough ball above the middle line, towards the back of the iron and press down carefully, until the dough has spread into a large circular waffle. Bake according to manufacturer's instructions, but it usually doesn't take very long for the waffle to be golden and crisp, about a minute. 

Quickly remove the hot waffle from the iron (I use a large silicon spatula to lift it off the hot plate), and roll the waffle around the handle or dowel - do it fast because as the waffle cools down it becomes hard! Press the dowel lightly down onto where the two ends meet, so that you get a little bit of a flat bottom and the ends stick together. Let it cool for a second or two, and then slide the waffle tube off the dowel. Set aside to cool. Make the rest of the waffle tubes. 

When you are ready to serve, whip the cream into stiff peaks and fold in the powdered sugar. Add it to a piping bag with a star tip, and fill the tubes. Use the tip to make a pretty rosette on each end, and top with the colored sprinkles (optional). Stack the waffle tubes on a pretty plate and serve immediately - the moisture in the whipped cream will slowly soften the waffle, making it harder to eat. 

Makes 10. 

Zalmsalade

The end of the year is creeping up on us, and many of us are busy in the kitchen these days. The month of December is probably the month where we prepare most of the food ourselves: whether that's speculaas for Sinterklaas, Kerststol for Christmas or oliebollen for New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve is an evening traditionally spent with friends and family. During the day, we're busy in the kitchen preparing snacks, soups and salads as this is usually not a day for a big meal. While listening to the Top 2000 on the radio, we cook, bake, chat, visit, Skype and WhatsApp our way to the end of the year!

One of the typical dishes during this evening are "koude schotels", cold platters: decorated platters of luxury potato salad with chunks of beef, or like today, with salmon or lobster. For one, they're easy to make and hold well in the fridge, and secondly, they feed a large group of people throughout the day. Just remember to pop it back in the fridge after serving to keep it fresh.

Today, we've made a zalmsalade, a salmon based cold salad. It's best the day before so the flavors can blend together, and then dressed and served the day of.

Zalmsalade
1 can Red or Pink Salmon (approx. 15 ounces/425 grams net weight)
2 large red potatoes
1 small can peas and carrots (or mixed vegetables)
1 tablespoon capers
6 dill pickles, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
4 heaping soup spoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
Pinch of dried or fresh dill
Salt
Pepper

Drain the salmon into a sieve, and save the liquid. Remove bones and skin. Wash and cut potatoes into cubes, boil in salted water until done. Drain the peas and carrots.

Add the potatoes, the peas and carrots, the capers, the dill pickles and the celery into a bowl and stir together. Throw in a pinch of dried or fresh dill, some salt and pepper. Mix the mayonnaise with two tablespoons of the liquid from the canned salmon into a sauce and fold that into the vegetable mixture in the bowl. Taste and see if you want to adjust the seasonings. Lastly, carefully fold in the canned salmon. You want to try and keep it a bit chunky.

In a separate bowl, mix four tablespoons of mayonnaise with one tablespoon of the salmon liquid and a squirt of ketchup into a pink sauce. This will cover the salad tomorrow, and keep it moist.

Cover both and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

When you get ready to make up your platter, remove the salmon salad from the fridge. Layer a plate with lettuce leaves, and shape the salad on top, dome-like. Slather the salad with the pink sauce you made the day before, and decorate with slices of cucumber, boiled egg, fresh dill, tiny tomatoes and colorful strips of bell pepper. Serve with crackers, toast or dinner rolls.