Rozijnenbroodschoteltje met appel

Several weeks ago, I made a batch of raisin bread, rozijnenbrood, to enjoy, give away, and store for later use. Raisins and currants have the tendency to absorb moisture from the bread, so after a few days the bread tends to get a little dry. Fortunately, it toasts well, and there is a certain bliss in having a warm, toasted slice of raisin or currant bread, with a little bit of "good" butter, spread across the top, and if so desired, a slice or two of aged cheese. There is little less that comforts the soul on a blistery, cold day like today! 

There are also other ways of using up old bread, like in today's dish: a bread pudding, or broodschoteltje (bread dish), made with raisin bread, apple, eggs, milk and sugar. In my search of traditional recipes, I frequently come across dishes that use up "restjes", leftovers, from the previous day. Any meat left from the Sunday dinner will be served as a cold cut, in a huzarensalade, or turned into croquettes the next day. Vegetables are repurposed into salads or soups, and bread is turned into wentelteefjes (French toast) or broodschoteltjes. From having lived in other countries and among other cultures, I know that this is not unique to the Dutch, but I do think that we take a particular pride in being thrifty, or zuinig. 

And we have plenty of sayings to support being thrifty: in Limburg they say "dae twieë zwegelkes noeëdig heet um zien piêp aan te staeke, weurtj noeëts riêk" (he who needs two matches to light his pipe, will never be rich), in de Achterhoek it's said that "dunne plekskes sniën, is ' t behold van de wörste" (cutting thin slices preserves the sausages), and in Zeeland, "oans bin zunig" (we are thrifty). This last one even inspired various margarine commercials in the 80s.

Well, I'm not from Zeeland, but I do like to be zuinig or deliberate in my spending, so this morning I am using up the rest of the rozijnenbrood to make a bread pudding. If you don't have rozijnenbrood, just use regular old bread and add a handful of raisins. Don't have an apple? See if you can scrounge up a pear, or use dried fruits like apricots. Even dollops of the last of the strawberry jam will make a great addition: just have fun with it! As they say in de Achterhoek: "Wa’j ow spaort veur de mond, is vake veur de katte of de hond" - what you save for your mouth, often ends up being for the cat or the dog. A great encouragement to look through the cupboards and fridge to see what can get used up, in true Dutch fashion.

Rozijnenbroodschoteltje met appel

8 thick slices raisin or regular bread (about 500 grams)

1 apple, cored and cubed

1 tablespoon (15 grams) butter

2 cups (500 ml) milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/3 cup (65 grams) sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Pinch of salt

Cut the bread into cubes and mix with the apple. Butter a casserole and add the bread and apple. In a bowl, add the milk and the eggs and beat them until all of the egg has been incorporated. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Heat the oven to 350F/175C. In the meantime, on medium heat on the stove, warm up the milk and stir until it starts to thicken a little bit, about eight to ten minutes. Do not let the milk get to a boil, as the egg will curdle.

Pour the hot milk over the bread and apple mix. If you want a bread pudding with a crispy top, do not mix, otherwise give it a stir or two so that all the bread is covered. When the oven is up to temp, place the casserole on the middle rack, and bake it for 40-45 minutes or until golden.

Serve hot. I like to add a pat of butter or a splash of heavy cream, but it doesn't need it (then again, neither do I, but there you have it :-).

Gebakken Kaasplak

The other day, I was rummaging around in stacks of 1950's women's magazines looking for dinner ideas, as I often do. I love to see what dishes the men and women of my mom's and grandma's time prepared and ate. Sunday meals were certainly more elaborate as they appear to be nowadays, I would say, starting with a soup, then a main course (potatoes, meat and vegetables), and ending with a (dairy) dessert. Whatever was left of the meat, was frequently served the next day sliced for lunch, cold, with bread and pickles, or transformed into a new dish, often a casserole, or hot snacks like kroketten. Rice or elbow macaroni was cooked once, and a portion kept aside to turn into desserts for the next day, and vegetables that were left went into the soup, stamppots, or pan-fried until crispy. Nothing was wasted! 

On days that meat was not on the menu, I frequently saw something else in its stead: gebakken kaasplak, fried cheese slice. Recipes among the different magazines varied a little bit, so I ended up creating my own. I think it's my new favorite! 

It's a simple yet delicious dish made by breading a thick slice of cheese and frying it in butter until it's golden and crispy on the outside while remaining soft and melty inside. Pick your favorite cheese, and go for it! You can serve it as a meat substitute with dinner, as a hamburger substitute on a roll with fresh lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion, or as a snack with a dollop of mustard. 

Here in the US, cheese can be found pre-sliced, so-called deli-style. Each square is approximately 3.5 x 3.5 inches (8.5 x 8.5 cm), and weighs about 1 oz /28 grams each. Do not use floppy American cheese slices for this, but select sturdy Sharp Cheddar, Aged Gouda, or Pepper Jack slices. 

Gebakken kaasplak

8 square slices deli style sliced cheese

2 eggs

1 cup panko or breadcrumbs

4 tablespoons (55 grams) butter

Whole grain mustard

Lay out the cheese slices. Spread a teaspoon each of mustard on four slices and top each with a second slice. Beat the two eggs in a shallow dish. and pour the breadcrumbs in another shallow dish. 

Dip one of the stacked cheese slices in the egg, turn it over to coat the other side, and lift it out of the egg. Let it drip, and then coat the cheese with breadcrumbs on all six sides. Repeat with the rest of the cheese. 

Heat the butter in a frying pan. Dip the breaded cheese in the egg again, then again in the breadcrumbs and put them in the frying pan, repeating until all four cheese patties are in the pan. On medium heat, fry all sides of the cheese patties until golden brown, about five minutes. Serve warm.

Rozijnenbrood

Breakfast is always a little bit of a feast in the Netherlands, especially on the weekends, when there is a bit more time to prepare something special. Our breakfasts are certainly not for the indecisive. Are you going to go for white soft rolls or crunchy ones? Beschuit, toast, or knäckebrot? White, brown or volkoren bread? Not to mention having to choose between the vast amount of toppings, sweet or savory, cold cuts, cheeses, eggs.....or are you skipping bread altogether and prefer a big bowl of pap, porridge? The breakfast table holds a dazzling array of choices, and is such a treasure trove of delights - worth taking time for.

The only thing I think we can all agree on is that savory comes first, and sweet comes last - but even that unwritten rule is sometimes hazy: where does a slice of bread with cheese and jam, or peanut butter and hagelslag fall? Is it all-in-one, or does it come after the savory and before the sweet? And is three slices of bread too much for our Calvinistic genes? Interesting things to ponder while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, and another slice of something good :-)

One of the breads that always makes the breakfast table a little bit more festive and special is a pillowy loaf of raisin bread, rozijnenbrood. A sweet dough, flavored with just a hint of cinnamon, and juicy, sweet raisins all throughout the loaf. This bread is good with just a lick of butter, or topped with a slice of aged cheese. It can also be used as a base for wentelteefjes, or broodschoteltjes. 

Don't be alarmed by the large amount of raisins that go in the bread: they will all fit! For this recipe, I rinse the raisins in warm water, let them sit in the warm water for a few minutes, then set them out to air dry for a couple of hours. I want them somewhat plump-ish on the inside but not overly saturated, and dry on the outside. 

Rozijnenbrood

2 cups (250 grams) raisins

1 3/4 cup (250 grams) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar

1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup (125 ml) water or milk, lukewarm

2 teaspoons (8 grams) active dry yeast

3 tablespoons (40 grams) butter, softened

1 egg, beaten

Rinse the raisins in lukewarm water, and set them out to air dry. 

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the lukewarm water or
milk and let it stand for five minutes, or until it's frothy, then mix it in with the dry ingredients. Knead, either in a machine or by hand, until the dough more or less comes together, then add the butter and most of the egg (keep two teaspoons behind for brushing the top). Continue to knead the dough until you have  cohesive whole, about three to four minutes. Pat the dough into a ball, cover and let it rise for a good thirty minutes, or until about not quite doubled in size. 

Dust the counter with a little bit of flour, pat the air out of the dough, and put a handful of raisins on top. With the use of a scraper, or a floured hand, fold the dough over itself, incorporating the raisins. Repeat this until all the raisins have found a spot in the dough. 

Shape the dough into an oval loaf, grease a 8 x 4 inch (20 x 10 cm) loaf tin, and place the dough inside. Cover and let rise at room temperature until the dough peeks over the top: about an hour, but depending on the actual temperature of the room, this may take less - just keep an eye on it. When ready, brush the top with the remaining egg.

Heat the oven to 350F/175C and bake the loaf, in the middle, for about fifteen minutes, then place aluminum foil over the top to keep it from browning too fast. Bake for another twenty minutes, or until golden brown*. The internal temperature should measure 185F/85F and rising (meaning that the digital thermometer reaches the temperature pretty quickly and continues to rise beyond that). 

Pull the bread, let it cool in the tin, and remove it when it's lukewarm. Let it cool down on a rack before cutting. 

 * I don't follow the "bread is done when it sounds hollow when you tap it" because I don't know what "hollow" sounds like to anybody else, so I temp the bread with a digital thermometer. 

Soepballetjes

"Geef mij maar soep, soep, soep met balletjes" sang Rita Corita already in the 50's, and for those of you who listen to the Groeten Uit Het Zuiden podcast from Jordy Graat and Rob Kemps, may remember that last season's soup component started with the "Soep met Ballen" song by Leo van Helmond. 

Even the sheep Veronica, a fantastic poem by Annie M.G. Schmidt, brings up "soep met ballen", soup with meatballs, as a delightful, delicious, start of a dinner. It is truly an engrained and traditional addition to our kitchen, to our many soups, and delights many, young and old. 

So what are these soepballetjes? That's an easy answer: small meatballs that are added to traditionally tomato or vegetable soup, but they can also be added to other soups. Beyond that there is a vast choice of flavors, combinations, and options.  Commercially, soepballetjes can be bought pre-made and blanched in jars with bouillon, in cans with salted water, and in the meat section at the grocery store or at the butchers you can also buy them pre-seasoned and raw. 

We have soepballetjes made with beef, with half-om-half (half beef, half pork), made with chicken, turkey, or vegan. They come with different seasonings and in different variations. I've seen people use, outside of salt and white or black pepper, any combination of onion powder, nutmeg, coriander, ginger, mace, cardamom, chili powder, paprika, bay leaf, and a whole host of dried spices: parsley, thyme, oregano....

And then of course there are the soepballetjes made at home, where those who do make them, have their own family recipe or preferences. Some make them fresh while making the soup, others make a big batch every now and then (a fun family affair!), blanch and freeze them, still others fry them first so that they get some color. Some make them small, others make them bigger. Some only use meat, others add breadcrumbs or egg. All this to say that there is no "official", one way to make soepballetjes. But if you've never made them before and would like to give it a try, here's a very basic recipe. 

I make mine ahead of time by cooking them in bouillon and storing them in a container in the freezer. That way, when I make soup, I just grab a handful and add them last minute. The following recipe makes about 90 soepballetjes (I portion mine out at 5 grams, 0.2 oz). 

Soepballetjes

8 oz (225 grams) ground beef

8 oz (225 grams) ground pork

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Salt

Pepper

Optional: nutmeg

1 bouillon cube of choice

Mix the two meats together with the breadcrumbs, and season with salt and pepper. Put a pot on the stove with 4 - 6 cups (1 - 1.5 liter) of water, add the bouillon cube (I use vegetable bouillon), and bring up to a low simmer (do not boil). Use a small ice cream scoop (mine is 1 teaspoon sized) to portion the meat and roll one or two mini marbles, as a tester. Add to the simmering bouillon. They will sink to the bottom first, and as they cook, float to the top. Remove the tester and taste. Adjust the seasonings to your liking, but remember that the flavor should not overpower the soup they're going to be in. 

Continue to portion out the meatballs. I make them fairly small, at 5 grams each (0.2 oz) but that is purely a personal preference, so go with what you feel is the right size for you. Simmer them in the bouillon, and remove them a few minutes after they float. Spread out on a baking sheet, cool, and then freeze them. Once frozen they can be kept in a container in the freezer. 

The bouillon can be used as a base for soup, so if you are doing that today, keep some of the soepballetjes behind - about four or five per person. As pork has quite a bit of fat, you may want to degrease it first, but again: that's a personal preference. 

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!

Bitterkoekjes

Almonds have a prominent place as an item of luxury in the baked goods of the Netherlands. One of our oldest cookery books, Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen (A Remarkable Book on Cooking) published around 1514 by Thomas van der Noot in Brussels, already contains several almond based recipes. Christmas stollen are enriched by having a ribbon of almond paste running through its middle, speculaas is enhanced by adding a layer of almond paste inbetween, and numerous cookies and pastries contain almonds in various ways. 

So too today's cookie, the bitterkoekje, bitter cookie, so named after the bitter almonds that were traditionally used in its recipe. In a different book, this one from 1832, it said that "cookies made from bitter almonds" were shared at weddings to symbolize the ups (sweet) and the downs (bitter) of marriage. What a pity that this custom is no longer practiced! 

Bitterkoekjes are crispy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle, and are made with the basic ingredients of ground almonds, powdered sugar, and egg white. The bitter flavor comes from pure almond extract. so check your extract to make sure it lists "bitter almond oil" in the ingredients.  Because they don't contain any flour, these cookies are also a good gluten-free option. If you choose almond flour instead of grinding your own, read the ingredients list to make sure there are no other additives.

Bitterkoekjes

1 cup (150 grams) powdered sugar, packed

1 1/2 cup (150 grams) finely ground almonds 

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

2 eggs, egg whites only, divided

Line your baking sheet with a double layer of parchment paper. Heat the oven to 375F/190C. Sift the powdered sugar. Mix the almond with the powdered sugar, the salt, the almond extract, and one egg white until it's well mixed. Add a little bit at a time of the second egg white until you have a consistency that can be piped but is not too liquid that it will spread on its own - look at the picture to the right for an example of consistency. 

Pipe marble sized dollops onto the baking sheet (or use a tiny ice cream scoop, or two small spoons) leaving a little bit of space between. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, but check the color after 10 minutes. Because of the high sugar content, these tend to go from light golden to dark brown in no time, so keep checking! Makes approx. 60 small cookies.

Cool on the paper on a rack, and when they're cooled, peel them off the paper. Keep in a tin. As time passes they will get hard if you're in a dry climate - a slice of bread in the tin will help soften. 

Amazon Prime Shopping Suggestions: 

• King Arthur, Almond Flour, Certified Gluten-Free
• Unbleached Parchment Paper for Baking, Precut Parchment Paper Sheets
• Pure Almond Extract
• Powdered Sugar
• Digital kitchen scale (weighs both grams and ounces)
• Stainless Steel Scoop

Disclaimer: if you buy through any of the links in the Amazon Prime Shopping Suggestions section, the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program will pay us a small commission on qualifying purchases. It does not increase your cost or price, and it will help us keep the website running. Your support is very much appreciated! 

Don't have Amazon Prime but want to give it a try? This link offers a 30 day trial. 

Amandelspijs

Photo by Tetiana Bykovets 
on Unsplash

It's hard to say when almonds made their entrance into the Dutch kitchen. In Europe, almonds appear in recipes from the late Middle Ages (from 1300) on, often in combination with honey, and spices from Asia. These products came with traders from the Middle East during the Crusades. The oldest Dutch recipes for almond recipes (particularly marzipan) date from the beginning of the 17th century.

Almonds are still a big component of our baking traditions, mainly during the various holidays such as Sinterklaas and Christmas, where it makes its appearance next to speculaas, flavored with a tantalizing combination of spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coriander, and ginger, and as a core in the traditional Kerststol, the Christmas bread. During the rest of the year, we see it appear in gevulde koeken, (almond paste filled buttery cookies), amandelbroodjes (almond paste turnovers), rondos, and as an optional base for apple and pear cakes.

Because almond paste tends to be fairly expensive, the commercial baking sector also employs something called "banketspijs" - made white beans and almond extract. If you are buying almond flavored products, read the label to see if you're getting almonds or beans. Both have pros and cons. 

This recipe is for a batch of almond paste, and is easy to remember: the same weight of almonds and sugar, mixed with an egg, lemon zest, and a splash of almond extract, if you want to boost the almond flavor a bit. It holds fairly well in the fridge for about a week to to ten days. Make sure to use clean utensils when taking paste out of the container for recipes, and return it to the refrigerator as soon as you're done. 

Amandelspijs

2 cups (250 grams) almonds, blanched and chopped*

1 1/4 cup (250 grams) sugar

1 egg

Zest of a small lemon

Almond extract (optional)

Blend the almonds and the sugar together in a food processor or blender until well combined, like wet, fine sand. Add in the egg, the lemon zest and, if desired, a tablespoon of almond flavoring. Mix everything together into a thick paste. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

*nowadays it's easier to find almond flour or almond meal. Read the label to make sure the only ingredient are almonds. 

Amazon Prime Shopping Suggestions: 

• King Arthur, Almond Flour, Certified Gluten-Free
• Unbleached Parchment Paper for Baking, Precut Parchment Paper Sheets
• Pure Almond Extract
• Powdered Sugar
• Digital kitchen scale (weighs both grams and ounces)
• Dried Lemon Zest

Disclaimer: if you buy through any of the links in the Amazon Prime Shopping Suggestions section, the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program will pay us a small commission on qualifying purchases. It does not increase your cost or price, and it will help us keep the website running. Your support is very much appreciated! 

Don't have Amazon Prime but want to give it a try? This link offers a 30 day trial. 

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. 

Karnemelksepap

It is probably not surprising to read that the Dutch dairy industry is in the top five of the world's largest exporters, generating close to 7.5 billion euros a year. Up to sixty five percent of its dairy is sent outside of the country borders, with cheese and powdered milk being the main product. And the 35% that stays in the country is divided up in cheese, milk, butter, vla, yogurt, and buttermilk. Our most famous product is cheese, of course, and our most unique one our vlas. And it's still not uncommon to see people drinking a glass of karnemelk, buttermilk, with their bread lunch, or as a refreshing and rehydrating choice on a hot summer day. 

But buttermilk is not to everyone's liking, with its sour taste and thick consistency. Whereas milk, vla, and yoghurt have advanced and are now available in many flavors and with added benefits such as extra calcium, vitamin D, or probiotics, karnemelk has pretty much stayed the same - and is slowly losing market share to all the new fancy flavors. Which is unfortunate, really, because buttermilk doesn't need any additions: it contains all the essential amino acids for the body, as well as calcium, vitamin B6 and B12, and generally contains less lactose than regular milk. Karnemelk also contains less fat than milk, and is beneficial for your intestinal system. 

Besides a beverage, karnemelk is also used for various desserts, like this delicious karnemelkpudding. It is also the main ingredient for this old-fashioned but very versatile dish: karnemelksepap, or buttermilk porridge. A slightly sour porridge, thickened with flour, and sweetened with a little bit of sugar, honey or syrup, the porridge is a blank enough canvas to adjust it to your own liking. It can be eaten hot for breakfast or lunch, and hot or cold as dessert. One combination that is popular with the farming community in the North is the so-called "zoepenbrij", where buttermilk is often mixed with whole grains, like cooked barley, or oats. In that case, omit the flour, as the grains will thicken the porridge. 

The key to making this dish is to keep a close eye on the buttermilk and not let it boil too high, as the buttermilk will curdle. Constant stirring will help. 

Karnemelksepap

4 cups (1 liter) buttermilk

1/2 cup (75 grams) regular flour
Pinch of salt
Sweetener to taste (brown sugar, honey....)
Nuts, berries.....

In a small bowl, mix the flour with enough buttermilk to make a pourable, thick batter. Heat the rest of the buttermilk in a thick bottomed pan at medium low heat, stirring frequently. Don't let the milk come to a high boil, just an occasional bubble that breaks the surface. Stir in the flour mix and keep stirring until it's absorbed. Add the pinch of salt. Increase the heat to medium high, and continue to stir until the porridge thickens, and more bubbles come to the surface, for a few minutes. Any time you see a light yellow, watery streak in the porridge, it may mean that it's about to curdle, so pull the pan from the heat and continue to stir. 

When the porridge has thickened, pour into bowls. Top with sugar or honey, and add a handful of nuts and frozen berries, or seeds. 

Paasstol

"Een ei is geen ei, twee ei is een half ei, drie ei is een Paasei!" goes a famous Dutch children's verse. We're getting ready to celebrate Pasen, Easter, with plenty of eggsalad, Paasbrood, Paashaasjes or even a beautiful Paastaart, an Easter cake, complete with advocaat. 

Not to be outdone by anyone, we celebrate Easter for two days. The first day is Easter Sunday, or First Easter Day, Eerste Paasdag. The gathering of family and friends around the breakfast, lunch, or dinner table is key on First Easter Day. Stores are closed, and children are dressed in their "Paasbest" (Easter Best) with new clothes and shoes. All the eggs are dyed in bright colors, hidden and if lucky, all found. The breakfast or brunch table will be laden with different types of bread (multigrain, tiger rolls, currant rolls), as well as omelets, smoked salmon, cold cuts, and cheese, and plenty of hot coffee and tea. This is not a time to rush, but to enjoy each other's company, and several times the breakfast turns into brunch which then turns into lunch. As long as it's gezellig! 

And as the world gets back to work and resumes normal life on the Monday after Easter, the Netherlands celebrates Second Easter Day, or Tweede Paasdag. Where most stores and businesses remain closed, Second Easter Day is seemingly THE day to go furniture shopping. The large furniture stores, meubelboulevards, are open to the shopping public. Some of these are all set up for a fun day: playgrounds for the kids and a tearoom or lunchroom for mom, to make it gezellig. 

And if you're skipping brunch or have friends and family over for coffee or tea later, you can also serve something sweet: a Paastaart, or Easter cake, a variation on our traditional slagroomtaart, whipped cream cake. Decorated with fluffy whipped cream, a light biscuit batter and an adult amount of advocaat, this Easter cake will put a smile on your face. 

Today's Paasstol will look very familiar to those who like to celebrate Christmas with a kerststol, a dried fruit studded bread with a thick ribbon of almond paste, and covered in powdered sugar. Both share the same recipe and sometimes even fillings: the only difference is that at Christmas we top the bread with powdered sugar, at Easter we sprinkle it with shaved almonds. But hey! if you prefer powdered sugar to apricot jam and nuts, go for it. If you don't like raisins, don't put them in - just substitute the amount with a different dried fruit. It's all good! 

Paasstol is best eaten with a generous lick of butter. Whip the almond paste out of the slice, and spread it on top of the butter. The bread is also really good toasted!

Paasstol

1/2 cup (75 grams) golden raisins 

1/2 cup (40 grams) mixed and chopped dried fruits, like cranberries, currants, cherries, dried apricots...

1/4 cup (60 ml) orange juice, warm  - some prefer rum or a flavored liqueur

2 1/2 cups (350 grams) all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup (175 ml) milk, warm 

2 teaspoons (7 grams) active dry yeast 

1/4 cup (55 grams) sugar 

1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt 

1 egg, beaten 
1/2 stick (50 grams) butter, melted 

1 teaspoon lemon or orange zest

For the filling:
1 small can of almond paste* (or make your own) 

For the finish:
2 tablespoons butter, melted (25 grams)

1 tablespoon apricot jam, mixed with 1 teaspoon hot water
1/2 cup (50 grams) slivered almonds 

Soak the raisins and the dried fruits in the warm orange juice for a good fifteen minutes, then drain. Spread them out in a colander or baking sheet so that they can air-dry while you continue with the recipe. 

In a large bowl, place the flour. Make a well in the center and pour the warm milk in, and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let it sit for five minutes. Stir the flour and the milk until it barely comes together. Add the sugar and the salt, stir again, and slowly add the egg, then the melted butter and the citrus zest. Continue to knead for ten minutes on medium speed, until the dough comes together. 

Let the dough rest at room temperature, covered, for thirty minutes. Give those dried fruits a quick squeeze to drain some superfluous liquid. Punch the air out of the dough, and pat it flat on the counter, spread the dried fruits over the top, and carefully knead the dough back together into a ball, either by hand or in your bread mixer, but be careful that you don't tear up the fruit! You'll probably have more dried fruit than you think will ever fit, but keep kneading and pushing them back in the dough (they tend to escape).  Knead the dough carefully until the fruits are well distributed. Grease a bowl, place the dough inside, cover, and rest for an hour at room temperature or until the dough has doubled in size. Don't skip this step as the stol will be very thick and heavy if you do. 

Gently deflate the dough and pat into an oval. Place the oval with the short end

toward you and make an indentation along the length of the dough, in the middle. Now roll the almond paste on the counter until it forms a roll almost as long as the dough. Lay the almond roll in the indentation and lift the left side of the dough over the paste. Make sure that the dough does not meet the bottom half all the way on the right: a significant shape of the stol is the bottom "pouting" lip of the bread. Gently press the edge of the top half into the dough at the bottom.

Rest the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet or a silicone mat. Cover it, and let it proof for about 30 minutes or until ready to bake: the dough should barely spring back if you poke it with your finger. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350F/175C. Bake the bread for 35 - 40 minutes on the middle rack. If the bread is browning too fast, cover it with a piece of aluminum foil. Use a digital thermometer to determine if the bread is done: the temperature should be 190F/88C and rising.

As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, brush it with the melted butter. Cool for about 15 minutes, then brush the bread with the apricot jam. Sprinkle the almond shavings on top. Wait until the bread is fully cooled down before slicing. Best served with a generous lick of butter!

Tip: If you have any paasstol left over the next day, toast a slice until nice and golden. Whip the almond paste out with the tip of your knife and spread it on the warm slice of bread. Yummm!!!!!!!!!

Vrolijk Pasen everyone!

Fries Suikerbrood (Fryske Sukerbole)

Sûkerbôle or suikerbrood, sugar bread,  is a traditional bread from the northern province of Friesland, in Holland. Other provinces such as Limburg and Brabant have a similar recipe for sugary bread loaves but what sets the Frisian bread apart is the high amount of sugar. In comparison to other regional recipes, Frisians use twice as much sugar. It's therefore a sticky, sugary loaf, but oh so delicious! 

The sûkerbôle was often given to a new mother to celebrate the arrival of a baby girl; for baby boys, it was a raisin cake.

The sugar used for this recipe is called pearl sugar and is hard to find in a regular store, so I order mine from Amazon (here's the link)* Crushed-up sugar cubes are a good substitute: put them in a clean towel, fold it over, and give it a few whacks with t with a rolling pin. Not too hard! You want to have sugar lumps, not finely ground sugar. Handfold these lumps in the dough after the first rise.

Fryske Sûkerbôle
2 teaspoons dry active yeast

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (200 ml) milk

3 1/2 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons ginger syrup (optional)**

1 egg

5 tablespoons (80 grams) butter, melted

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (150 grams) pearl sugar, or crushed sugar cubes

For the pan: 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon regular sugar

Add the yeast to the warm milk. In a mixing bowl, mix the flour with the salt. Pour in the milk and yeast and mix together. Knead in the ginger syrup if using, the egg, and the melted butter until the dough forms a soft and flexible dough. This will take a little while, as the dough at first seems scraggly, about a good ten minutes. Cover and rise until double its size.

On a lightly floured counter, roll out the dough in a rectangle (about the length of the pan) and sprinkle the cinnamon over it, and then the pearl sugar. Now roll the dough into a loaf shape (first fold the sides towards each other, covering the sugar and cinnamon, then roll up into a loaf). Some of the pearl sugar may fall out - just roll the dough over it so it gets embedded on the outside. 

Butter the inside of a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan with the melted butter, but save a little bit for the loaf itself, about half a tablespoon. Put a tablespoon of sugar in the pan and tilt it forward towards each side so that the sugar coats the whole inside. Place the loaf inside, seam down. Cover and rise for about 15 minutes, or until loaf peaks out from inside the pan.

In the meantime, heat your oven to 375F (190C) degrees. Bake for 30 minutes or until loaf is done (measure with a digital thermometer: look for 190F or 87C). If the top browns too quickly, tent the loaf with aluminum foil.

As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, brush the top with the leftover melted butter. Cool the loaf for about five minutes, then carefully loosen the bread from the pan as some of the sugar may have caused the bread to stick. Remove the loaf and continue to cool on a rack. If you want a supersticky loaf, put the bread in a plastic bag when it's still lukewarm. 

Awesome with a curl of real butter!

* this is my Amazon associate's link. If you purchase something through this link, I will get a few pennies (literally) at no cost to you. All the proceeds are used to maintain this website.

** If you don't have ginger syrup, don't worry. I soak a tablespoon (10 grams) of chopped candied ginger and one tablespoon of sugar in two tablespoons of hot water. Let sit for about a good hour, then remove the ginger and use the syrup. Or....if you like ginger as much as I do, add the chopped pieces to the dough. What's the worse that can happen? Exactly. 

Friese Uiensoep (Fryske Sipelsop)

The Frisian language is such a unique language, and so different to Dutch. Just look at the name of this dish. Ui, meaning "onion" in Dutch, and "sipel" meaning the same thing in Frisian. Where do these differences come from? Well, I am glad you asked! According to the etymology of the words, "ui" has its origins in the French language, "oignon", where also the more old-fashioned word "ajuin" comes from, another Dutch word for onions. In Friesland, however, they veered more towards the Germanic side of things, hence "sipel" which stems from "zwiebel", the German word for onion. 

Fortunately, the soup doesn't care where the words come from, as it's as tasty made with "uien" as it is with "sipels". This is a thicker soup with a slight tangy flavor, and warming qualities: perfect for this cold weather we're experiencing here! The traditional cheese used for the toasted bread slices is Frisian cheese, a delicious gouda-style cheese flavored with cloves and cumin seeds. If you have access to it, great! If you don't, which is most likely, I've adapted the recipe so that you have the same flavors. 

Use a heavy bottomed skillet to caramelize the onions. Caramelizing the onions is a task of patience - browning the onions is slow, but it's so worth the effort as it gives a great color and fantastic flavor to the soup. I use this time to listen to Dutch radio or TV: it's a great distraction!

Friese Uiensoep

2 lbs (1 kg) onions, peeled and sliced in half moons

2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter

1/4 cup (50 grams) flour

4 cups (1 liter) vegetable or beef stock
4 cloves

2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
Black pepper
Toasted bread rounds or croutons
2 oz (50 grams) Gouda (-type) cheese, grated
Pinch of cumin seeds
Salt

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet until hot, and stir in the onions. Keep stirring frequently, until all the onions are golden brown. This will take at least a good 20 to 30 minutes on medium low heat. When they're golden, sprinkle the flour over the onions and give it a good stir so that the onions are coated, and continue to brown for a minute or two. Stir in the stock a little bit at a time, making sure that it's incorporated well, until it's a thick soup. Add the cloves and simmer for about twenty minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the cloves and stir in the two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (optional). 

Top the bread rounds with grated cheese and melt the cheese under the broiler (I give it a quick 30 seconds in the microwave if I don't want to heat up the oven). Add a pinch of cumin seeds on top and serve with the soup. 

Serves 4. For a more substantial meal, dice a hardboiled egg and stir in the soup, right before serving.

Happy Easter!

It is amazing to me how fast time goes. It seems only yesterday that I was getting ready for our family Easter brunch, and here we are again. A year further, perhaps a bit wiser, but definitely a year older! 

The Dutch Table's Paashaasjes

The Netherlands celebrates Easter in a similar way as it does Christmas, spread over two days. In the case of Easter, First Easter Day is always on Sunday, Second Easter Day is on the Monday following and is often a holiday.

The gathering of family and friends around the breakfast, lunch, or dinner table is key on First Easter Day. Stores are closed, children are dressed in their "Paasbest" (Easter Best) with new clothes and shoes. Eggs are colored, hidden and if lucky, all found. The breakfast or brunch table will be laden with different types of bread (multigrain, tiger rolls, Easter breads). To the right, you see our own traditional Paashaasjes, Easter bunny rolls, but you can always come up with your own design! 

The breakfast or brunch table will also have various bread toppings, deviled eggs, a couple of warm or cold egg dishes, and large amounts of coffee. Lamb is a traditional dish served for Easter.

And if you're skipping brunch or have friends and family over for coffee or tea later, you can also serve something sweet: a Paastaart, or Easter cake, a variation on our traditional slagroomtaart, whipped cream cake. Decorated with fluffy whipped cream, a light biscuit batter and an adult amount of advocaat, this Easter cake will put a smile on your face. 

Have a wonderful Easter weekend! 

Nicole

I've listed the recipes below as well:

Bread/Brunch:

Paastaart, Easter Cake

Tiger Rolls

White Rolls

Easter bunnies

Easter Bread

Multigrain Rolls

Cheese & Onion Bread

Deviled Eggs

Uitsmijter

Egg Salad

Coffee Time:

Easter Cake

Egg Cakes

And there are many, many more recipes - it doesn't have to be egg or Easter-related to be good! 

Kaneelbeschuitjes

There is this sweet memory I have from my early teenage years. Every day, my mom would have a hot pot of Pickwick tea waiting for me when I got home from middle school. The fact that I made it home was a feat in itself: five miles one way, on my bike, with the wind in my face, I had to cycle from the house to a neighboring town, along a dark bicycle path, with tall, looming trees on both sides. It was always dark under those trees, no matter what time of day. Early mornings, and late afternoons when I returned, I always had that darn wind in my face, which made the 5 miles feel more like 10. Every push of the pedal with my stubby little legs was an effort, and all that kept me going was that golden pot of tea on the table, with a small tealight underneath it to keep it warm, and a plate of cookies. Not too many, mind you, just a few to enjoy while I drank my tea and made my homework, but that promise of comfort and warmth kept this 11 year old little girl cycling "through weather and wind", as we say. 

Our household traditions are not unique, of course. About 40% of the Dutch drink on average about 3 cups of tea a day, adding up to well over 25 gallons a year. Not usually with milk, like our British neighbors do, but plain or sweetened with sugar, and usually served in a glass mug. Tea also prefers a different kind of cookie: because of the gentle flavor of the tea, we tend to go for lighter cookies that combine well and don't overwhelm the delicate tea taste. These cookies are not too heavy on the chocolate, or overly spiced or flavored, and are usually called "thee biscuitjes", tea cookies, where biscuit, or biskwie, refers to a hard-baked cookie. And if they dunk well, even better! 

One of our tea cookie favorites are "kaneelbeschuitjes", cinnamon rusks, slender long crisp cookies with a delicious topping of sugar and cinnamon. Originally, the bakeries fabricated these cookies from leftover white bread - we're so frugal! Nowadays, these cookies are made from a sweet yeasted dough that is baked in a shallow, long shape and then sliced, sugared and baked again, in a warm oven. The word "beschuit" is from the Latin "bis coctus" and is related to the Italian word "biscotti" - twice baked.  

I tend to make them the old-fashioned way, with leftover bread. I've found that those so-called Italian loaves are a great resource, but any unsliced white bread with a thin crust that you can find will do. 

Because these Italian loaves are domed, I put a baking sheet and a heavy weight on top for 24 hours, to flatten the loaf down to approximately 1.5 inch (somewhere around 3 1/2 cm) tall. For the Italian loaves that I buy here, in the US, I need a ten pound bag of flour to bring down the weight. Start out with a lower weight for your loaf as it may not need as much, and slowly increase the weight if you notice resistance. If you put too much weight on it from the start, or if the loaf is very fresh, it might just flatten into a pancake and we will not be able to use it for these cinnamon rusks!

Kaneelbeschuitjes

1 loaf Italian (or other white) bread, unsliced

3 tablespoons sugar

1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

Slice the flattened loaf into 1/2 inch slices (approx. 1.5 cm) Reassemble the bread on a baking sheet, balance another baking sheet on top and place the whole thing in the oven on the warm setting, or up to 200F (about 95 to 100C). This will help to start drying out the bread a little bit and set its shape.

Pour the milk in a flat bowl, and mix the sugar and cinnamon in another. Dip each bread slice quickly with one side into the milk and then dip that wet part in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the bread slices on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet, sugary side up. 

When you've covered all the slices with sugar, put the sheet pan back into the oven for a minimum of 2 hours, but no longer than 4. Depending on how thick you sliced, or how long you dipped the bread, it might take a bit longer to get that typical rusk crunch. 

One regular Italian loaf makes about 15 - 18 kaneelbeschuitjes. 

Abrikozenvlaai

One bite of apricot tart wooshes me straight back into my grandma's, oma's, kitchen. We grew up in the south of the Netherlands, in the province called Limburg, where vlaai (pie, or tart) is a regional tradition. All kinds of fruit tarts: cherry, black plum, apple crumble, pear, gooseberry or the so very traditional "butter vlaai"- you name it. During birthdays, holidays, or just regular Sundays it was traditional to have a variety of them laid out for when people came to visit - and my pick was always, always, apricot tart. The sweetness of the jammy fruit, the slight tang at the back of the tongue and the crunch of the sugar on the lattice was for me the perfect combination. Many Sundays I sat at my oma's elbow, pinching off small pieces of tart with my little fork and wrinkling my nose and happily shudder every time the tang hit me. It always made her laugh! 

October 25th is National Vlaai Day, the day to celebrate this fantastic, yet so simple, traditional Limburg pie, and as of 2024, the vlaai has gained official recognition as a protected regional product by the European Union. I've spoken about the history of the vlaai frequently, because to me it is such a great example of how out of little, like our country*, much can be made: the vlaai started its humble beginnings as a piece of leftover bread dough, rolled out flat and baked with a bit of fresh fruit or jam, and eaten while waiting for the bread to finish baking in the oven. 

So what keeps you? If you have flour, yeast, sugar, an egg, a bit of butter and some fresh fruit or preserves around the house, whip up a vlaai or two to enjoy this weekend, or share a "stökske vlaaj" (slice of vlaai) with family and friends, and celebrate with us! 

Abrikozenvlaai

For the vlaai:
1/3 cup milk and 2 Tbsp (100 ml), lukewarm
1 1/2 teaspoons (5 grams) active dry yeast

1 3/4 cup (250 gr) all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons (30 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt

1 egg

1/2 stick butter (55 gr), soft at room temperature

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs or panko

1/2 cup (50 grams) sliced almonds

For the filling:
4 cups (750 grams) sliced fresh apricots (or canned and drained)
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice (when using fresh fruit only)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk, and let it proof while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Add the flour to a mixing bowl, sprinkle the sugar and salt on top and give it a stir. Now pour in the milk with the yeast and start mixing. As the dough comes together, add in the egg and a bit later the soft butter and let the whole mixture come together while you need it into a soft dough. (You may need to add a tablespoon or two of milk in case the dough turns out to be a bit dry).

Form the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl, cover and let it rise, about a quarter to half its original size.

In the meantime, make the filling. In a bowl, mix the cornstarch with the sugar and toss the apricots in the mixture. Also add in the lemon juice if you use fresh fruit, to keep it from oxidizing. As you can tell from the picture, I forgot and some pieces turned a little brown. It doesn't affect the flavor, it just looks a little "off".

Punch down the dough, and roll it into a circle large enough for an 11 inch (28 inch) shallow pan. Spray or butter the pie pan. Press in the dough, cover with cling film and let it rise a second time, about 20 - 30 minutes, until fluffy. Dock the dough with a fork and prick little holes all over, letting the air out. Spread the breadcrumbs evenly over the dough. Apricots can be quite juicy sometimes and the breadcrumbs will absorb some of that moisture and keep the bottom dry.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 400F/200C. Spoon the apricot slices into the pan. Bake in the hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Add the almond slices to a baking sheet and toast them lightly in the cooling oven (keep an eye on it!), or give them a quick toss in a frying pan, just for a bit of color and increased flavor. 

Sprinkle the almonds around the rim of the vlaai right before serving. 

*Almost 20% of the country is man-made, or reclaimed land from the sea.