Netherlands

Oma's boterkoek 
(Dutch Buttercake)




Serves 12

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter or 2/3 cup margarine or 2/3 cup half-and-half
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 egg, beaten (reserve 1 tsp)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
sliced almonds, for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. In medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar and almond extract.
2. Add beaten egg except for 1 teaspoon.
3. Sift flour and baking powder, and add to bowl, mixing with wet ingredients.
4. Put dough in greased 9 inch pie plate.
5. Mix the reserved 1 tsp of beaten egg with 1 tsp of water, and brush over dough.
6. Sprinkle with sliced almonds, if desired. (My Oma always used the almonds, it looks pretty and adds a nice touch!).
7. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until done (firm to the touch).
8. This is a dense cake, but should be soft on the inside and hard on the outside, but not too hard!


Pepernoten


Makes 50 pieces

Ingredients
50 g butter (1 3/4 oz)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup self raising flour
Speculaas spices
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions
1.Cream the butter and sugar, then add spice mix (or spices).
2.Add the flour and milk and make very very small marble sized balls
3.Bake for 10-15 minutes at 160 C (320 F) until golden.


Chipolata Pudding

Serves 8

Ingredients
50 grams Lady Fingers
3/4 deciliter (3 fl. oz.) maraschino
2 eggs
100 grams sugar
2½ dl (1 cup) milk
10 grams vanilla sugar
12 grams (6 sheets) gelatin
6/10 liter (2 1/3 cup) whipping cream
60 grams candied fruit

Directions
1. Soak the cookies in the maraschino. Splice the eggs and beat the yolks with 60 grams of sugar. Add the vanilla sugar to the milk and bring to a boil. Remove and let cool off. Soak the gelatin in a bit of cold water. Fold the yolk mix into the cooled-off milk and reheat it on low heat, stirring constantly to thicken the mix without letting it boil (otherwise it curdles).
2. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin and mix the gelatin in the milk. Remove from the heat and put the pan with contents into a bowl of cold water to cool. Stir the mix regularly.
3. Beat the whipping cream and remaining sugar until stiffened. Carefully fold in the milk-eggs mix. Beat the egg whites and use that to ‘grease’ a pudding pan. Pour a small layer of pudding into the pan. Spread the maraschino-soaked Lady Fingers on it, add some of the chopped candied fruits (keep a few for garnish) and pour or scoop the rest of the pudding in the pan. Put the pudding in the fridge for about three hours.
4. Take from the fridge, dump the pudding on a large serving dish and garnish with the remaining candied fruit and whipped cream.


Prûmebôle
(Plums-and-bread sweet dessert)

Ingredients
200 grams / 7 oz. dried plums
12 slices of white bread
2 balls stem ginger in syrup
butter or margarine
cinnamon
2 eggs
70 grams / 3 oz sugar
salt
300 centiliter / 1 1/8 cup milk
50 centiliter / 4 tbsp brandy

Directions
1. Steep the dried plums in plenty of water overnight. When they are soft, chop and mush the plums. Shred the ginger. Cut the crusts off the bread and butter each slice on both sides.
2. Cover the bottom of an oven-proof dish with a layer of bread. Put a layer of mashed plums on top, sprinkle with ginger and cinnamon. Cover with another layer of bread, plums, ginger and cinnamon and cover again with a layer of bread.
3. Whisk the eggs with a dash of salt and 50 grams sugar. Add the milk and brandy and pour the mix gently over the bread-plum mix.
4.Preheat the oven to 175ºC/345ºF and bake the dessert for 45 minutes until the top layer is golden brown.
5. Mix the remaining sugar with two teaspoons of cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the prûmebôle. Serve warm.


Rijstevlaai
(Rice Pie)

Serves 8

Ingredients
250 grams flour
yeast
150 ml milk
2 eggs
75 grams butter
25 grams fine berry sugar
salt
filling:
½ litre milk
vanilla (piece or extract)
75 grams rice
20 grams butter
1 egg
sugar; salt

Directions
1. For the pie: Melt the butter and prepare the yeast (from scratch or packaged). Add yeast, milk, butter, sugar and a pinch of salt to the flour and knead into a cohesive dough. Place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it rise for 30 minutes in a warm spot. Form and roll it into a sheet of about 1.5 centimetres (½”).
2. Drape it onto a greased, large, shallow pie plate and cut off most of the ‘overhang,’ leaving about 4 centimetres (2”). Wet that ‘lip,’ roll and form it into a thickened crust, as in a pizza. Cover the pie with a damp cloth and let it rise for another 30 minutes.
3. Filling: Add vanilla and a pinch of salt to the milk and boil. Sprinkle in the rinsed rice, bring to a boil again, then turn down the heat and cook on lowest heat for 30 minutes. Add the butter. Lightly beat the egg, add a spoonful of the hot milk, mix and mix it into the rice-milk. Add sugar to taste.
4. Prick the bottom of the pie with a fork; pour in the rice-milk. Lightly beat the yolk of the other egg and brush that over the filling. Bake in a preheated 400ºF/195ºC over for about 45 minutes until the pie is light brown and ready.


Advocaat
(Dutch eggnog)

Ingredients
10 egg yolks
pinch of salt
275 grams / 10 oz. sugar
1½ tsp vanilla essence
400 ml / 1 2/3 cup brandy

Directions
1. Beat the yolks, salt and sugar until the mix is creamy and thick. Very slowly pour in the brandy, but keep on beating the mixture.
2. Pour the mix into a heavy saucepan and heat gently, whisking constantly until the advocaat is warm (note not hot!) and thick. Remove from the heat and pour into a clean bottle.
3. The ‘advocaat’ should be so thick one could scoop it with a (small) spoon to eat. It usually is served in a wide pony glass with a dollop of whipped cream on top.


Oliebollen

Makes about 35

Ingredients
1 kg/2.2 lbs wheat flour
1 liter water
25 grams/1 oz salt
50 grams/2 oz sugar
80 grams/3 oz packaged yeast
1 tsp cinnamon
lemon juice
200 grams/7 oz raisins
100 grams/4 oz chopped apple
oil for deep frying
icing sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions
1. Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix for 10 seconds. Add the flour and using an electric mixer (lowest setting) mix for well for about 20 seconds.
2. Add the salt and sugar, cinnamon, a few drops lemon juice, the raisins and the freshly-cut diced apple. Mix well.
3. Set aside to rise for 45 minutes.
4. Heat the oil to about 180ºC/350ºF. Form balls using two spoons or an ice scoop and deep fry the oliebollen - usually a few at a time, for about 6 minutes each. You might have to dunk (and turn) them halfway through.
5. Drain on absorbant paper and liberally sprinkle the hot oliebollen with ising sugar.
6. This is just one of the many possible recipes for oliebollen. If so desired, cinnamon and apple could be left out, but they make for an interesting flavor.
7. You might want to also add a 100 grams/4 oz. mix of currants, and chopped candied fruits (sukade). Another alternative is to use a bottle of (brown) beer instead of the same amount of water.
8. Mix for oliebollen - brandname Koopman’s - also comes in a package, available from most Dutch deli stores. Follow the recipe on the label, to which you might add your own flavors.


Borstplaat
(Dutch Fudge)

Ingredients
300 grams white sugar
200 grams soft brown sugar
10 grams butter
100 ml milk
cookie forms and/or aluminum foil
for flavouring:
4 tbsp. brewed espresso coffee or
4 tbsp. prepared cocoa or
2 tbsp. maraschino juice or
3 tbsp. whipping cream

Directions
1. Keep the cookie forms in a dish of ice water. Combine sugar, milk and butter in a thick-bottomed pan and add one of the flavours - coffee, chocolate or cream - as well (for cherry flavour add the juice just before pouring out the mixture).
2. Boil the mixture, and stir it constantly. The fudge is ready when a drop of the hot mixture does not flatten on a plate or in a cup of water.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Put the cookie forms on a sheet of foil and pour the mixture into the forms.
4. ‘Borstplaat’ should be no more than 1 cm (3/8”) thick. If you don’t use cookie forms, pour the mixture directly onto the foil and raise its edges to hold the mixture at the desired thickness. Then cut the slab with a cold knife.


Haagse bluf

The name of the dessert is quite obvious: a lot made from little. The appearance of a rich dish is said to be ‘typical’ for the people in the city of The Hague in earlier centuries, where pretense of affluence or social status often outweighed a family's real means or income. In this same vein came about the popular expression ‘houten ham’ (wooden ham), a prop used for the dinner table, while the family - again? - had a meatless meal. The need for such appearances (bluffs) also was influenced by the fact that the Dutch kept their curtains open in the evenings allowing passers-by to look in, a custom still the norm in the Netherlands.

Serves 6

Ingredients
4 egg whites
400 ml red currant or rasberry thick juice
125 grams sugar
6 biscuits

Directions
1. Beat the egg whites with the sugar till stiff.
2. Slowly add the juice while still beating the conconction.
3. Then divide the Bluff into six dessert bowls, stick in a biscuit and serve at once.