Kokosmakronen

Beauty lies in simplicity. One of the many things I've learned on this quest to map the Dutch kitchen is that, quite often, the best dishes are the ones with just a few ingredients. Less is more, so to say.

I've mentioned before that the Dutch have an incredible cookie culture. The grocery stores stock shelves of the most amazing combinations, shapes, ingredients and flavors. Coffee and tea are consumed throughout the day and, preferably, in combination with a cookie. Or two. Because that's so gezellig.

Coconut macaroons, or kokosmakronen, are found in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are small and high, others piped in a circle and flat. Some are yellow (depending on whether you include the egg yolk), others plain white, but the flavor and texture is always moist, coconutty and sweet. Kokosmakronen are usually baked on circles of edible potato starch paper, that I have not yet been able to locate, but they bake equally well on parchment paper or on a silicone mat. Make sure you keep the temperature low enough that the bottom of the cookies does not burn or get too toasted. Burnt coconut will leave a bitter taste and spoil the overall flavor of the cookie.

When you bake kokosmakronen, the smell of coconut will permeate the air and all, except for those who abhor this fibrous drupe, will wait with coffee in hand until the long, agonizing wait until you pull these golden beauties from the oven, is over. And that would be all of fifteen minutes, so go figure....The key is to wait until the cookies have cooled down sufficiently to allow the flavor to come forward. Better ofcourse is to eat them the next day, when the cookies have achieved that typical chewiness.

Kokosmakronen
2 egg whites
3/4 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cup of shredded coconut
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of self-rising flour

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then slowly add in the sugar. Keep beating until the sugar has dissolved. Pinch some egg white between your fingers and rub them together. A little bit of grain is fine, but you want most of the sugar gone. Carefully fold in the coconut and the pinch of salt, then fold in the flour.

Heat the oven to 300F. Place small heaps of dough on a silicone mat or parchment paper, place it on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for approximately fifteen minutes or until golden. The cookies will still be a little bit soft in the center but will set after you remove them from the oven.

Makes about twenty small cookies.

Bapao

Bapao, or ba pao, is a steamed bun with a savory or sweet filling. Originally from China, it made its way into the Dutch kitchen via the cuisine of Indonesia, a former colony of the Netherlands. The savory filling is traditionally made with ground beef and is flavored with Chinese five spice powder (fennel, anise, ginger, cinnamon and cloves) and sweet soy sauce.

The bun is best enjoyed warm, with a sweet chili dipping sauce. You can buy these Indonesian gems in snackbars, at the grocery store or at the city markets. Look for a small white trailer that sells Vietnamese loempias, i.e. egg rolls, and you're bound to find they also sell ba pao. The fillings can be beef, chicken or vegetarian (usually some sort of tofu mixture).

It's an easy snack to make and once steamed, cooled and properly wrapped, it will hold for several weeks in the freezer. All you need to do is pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes (wrapped ofcourse!) and your snack is ready! Because of the sweet dough and the savory filling, it is a favorite with both kids and adults.

Bapao
1 lb of ground beef
1 green onion
1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of five spice powder*
2 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce**
1 teaspoon of salt

For the dough
4 cups of self-rising flour
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt

Parchment paper
Steamer
Tea towel

Cut the parchment paper into 3x3 inch squares. Brown the beef in a skillet and pour off some of the fat, if there is a lot. Mince the white part and 2/3s of the green of the green onion and stir, together with the minced garlic, into the meat. Sauté until the garlic is translucent, then stir in the spices and the soy sauce. Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Put the steamer on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Tie a tea towel around the lid to avoid any water dripping from the lid onto the dough.

Knead a dough with the flour, the milk, the sugar and the salt, and cut into 2.5oz pieces. Flatten each ball into a circle, not too thin, and add a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in the middle. Wrap the dough around it, pinch it shut and place the bapao, seam side down, onto a square of parchment paper.

When they are all done, lift the lid on the steamer, place the bapao on the perforated pan. Leave plenty of space between buns as they will rise and expand considerably. Replace the lid and steam the bapao for about fifteen minutes. Carefully lift the lid and keep it straight as tilting it may cause condensation to drip on the buns. This will ruin the fluffy dough, so be careful!

Remove the buns carefully, let them cool a little and enjoy them with a sweet chili sauce dipping. Makes approximately 10-12 bapao.

I was rather conservative with the filling,
but you may want to fill this puppy up,
the dough will hold it!

* Five Spice Powder is easily found in regular grocery stores, in the Asian food section. If you cannot find it, try this recipe.

** The Indonesian sweet soy sauce is called Ketjap Manis. Not easy to come by in the United States but if you replace it with regular soy sauce, add a 2 teaspoons of sugar to the meat and carefully adjust the salt, as regular soy sauce is rather salty.

Driekoningenbrood

Three Kings Day, or Epiphany, is traditionally celebrated on January 6th. It's supposedly the day that the three Magi, Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar, guided by a star, presented their gifts to Christ in the manger.

Driekoningen is not a very traditional or widespread holiday in the Netherlands anymore but it used to be one of the most celebrated ones, akin to Sinterklaas. The famous painter Jan Steen reflected this festive holiday in numerous works: scenes of blissful family gatherings with food and drink, music and singing. The city of Tilburg still organizes Driekoningen celebrations every year. The celebration was added to the Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2012.





Jan Steen, Driekoningenfeest (1662),
Oil on canvas, 131 x 164.5 cm.,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 Captain Alonso Vazquez noted the tradition in his writings of 1614, " On the day of Three Kings, and the night before, they (i.e. the Dutch) crown someone in their household as king, by luck, and they obey him and serve him as such, and when he drinks they encourage him and praise him in loud voices, and from Christmas Eve to Three Kings, a period which they call Thirteen Evenings, they place in remembrance  thirteen burning candles, of white wax, on the window sill, in a single line behind the curtains, to remember the thirteen nights from Christmas to Three Kings, and each night they will get together and party and get drunk." Well, that's lovely. No wonder the Calvinistic movement in the 17th and 18th century forbade to host or participate in such festivities. No fun! 

Another source, a 1935 issue of a monthly magazine for housewives, references the old tradition, already rare by then, that the bread was cut in thirds by the man of the house: one third for the church, one third for the neighbor who was not able to purchase this costly bread, and one third for his own household.

Nowadays, pockets of predominantly Catholic areas such as North Brabant and Limburg do still celebrate it, albeit in a more moderate form. Children will dress up as magi and will, illuminated by a burning star-shaped lantern, go door-to-door and sing songs in hope to rake in the candy.

On the eve of Driekoningen, January 5th, or early morning on the 6th, Driekoningenbrood is served. It's a sweet bread, flavored with almond paste and lemon zest, that holds a small surprise: hidden in the bread are three uncooked beans. Two are white beans and one is dark, to represent the three Magi. Whomever gets the slice with the dark bean will be "king" for a day, being allowed to set the pace for the day, or at least decide what's going to be for dinner. If a parent or adult gets the king's bean, they are expected to treat the rest of the family - double joy! 

Driekoningenbrood

4 cups (600 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (6 grams) salt
Zest of one lemon

2 teaspoons (15 grams) active dry yeast
3/4 cup (175 ml) milk, warm

1/4 cup (80 grams) almond paste

2 eggs
1 stick (100 grams) butter, melted

2 uncooked white beans
1 uncooked black, red or pinto bean
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Optional: 1/2 cup (75 grams) raisins or mixed peel

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and proof, then add to the flour mix. Break pea-sized pieces off the almond paste and add with the eggs to the dough. Knead together, then add the melted butter. Knead the dough for a good five to eight minutes or until it's smooth and flexible - add one more tablespoon milk at a time if you feel it's too dry. Set aside in an oiled bowl, covered and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

Carefully punch down the dough, spread raisins over the top if used and knead them in carefully, then shape the dough into a round. From the bottom, stick the three beans in the dough, each at a fair distance from each other. Place the round dough on a baking sheet or in a round baking pan, cover the dough, rise for 45 minutes or about 2/3s in size.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 375F/190C. When the bread is ready to be baked, slash the top of the dough once top to bottom, and once right to left. Then slash each quarter section once more, creating 8 sections. As the bread bakes, the tips of each section will rise up and create the shape of a crown. Bake the bread for about thirty minutes or until done (>185F internal temperature). Note that, because of the high sugar content, the bread may brown prematurely and might acquire a bitter taste: tent the bread with aluminum foil during the last ten to fifteen minutes to avoid any burning.

Brush the bread with melted butter when it comes out of the oven, let it cool and dust richly with powdered sugar. Slice in pieces and serve with hot chocolate and coffee: make sure you check to see if you have the dark bean!

If you prefer to not cut the star shape in the bread, you can also cut out a star or crown shape out of paper and dust the bread with powdered sugar after it's cooled.





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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Koolsoep

Tired of cooking large meals? Can´t fathom having to do another pig-out on New Year´s Eve? No worries! This quick, savory, easy cabbage soup will allow you to put your feet up for a bit, have a hearty bite to eat and save some space for all that lovely food that will be coming your way until the end of the year.

Green cabbage, or savooiekool (savoy cabbage) is the Dutch green cabbage of choice. Its flavor is pleasantly cabbag-ey, but not overly heavy, and the leaves maintain a pleasant crunch after a quick boil. This brassica pairs nicely with pork and bacon and does best in a broth or a stamppot.

Save some French bread or a thicker loaf to toast and add to this soup. Select a nice, flavorful cheese to melt on the toasted bread. With this addition, the soup can be served as a meal.

Koolsoep

1 small savoy cabbage, washed and cut in narrow strips

1 cup of diced salty pork (or 4 strips of bacon, in strips)
1 medium onion, sliced
6 cups of vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
Splash of white wine (optional)
4 slices of bread
1 cup of grated cheese

Fry the salty pork or bacon crispy in a Dutch oven. Add the onion slices and stir until they are golden, about five minutes. Add the cabbage and stir until it´s slightly wilted, then add the broth and the spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a good twenty minutes. Add the splash of white wine if you want. Taste and adjust salt.

Put the cheese on the slices of bread and quickly melt the cheese under a broiler. Place a piece of bread in a deep plate or soup mug, pour the soup over it and enjoy!