recipe

For New Year's Eve I decided to share this wonderful traditional Dutch cookie-recipe.

Up to this day people in the northern and eastern regions of The Netherlands eat this waferthin cookie for NewYear's Eve.

They come in two varieties: flat and rolled up.

The flat ones you eat the 31st of December, the rolled up ones you can eat starting the 1st of January.

The flat wafers represent the old year that has fully unfolded. The rolled up wafers stand for the new year, that still has all of its secrets rolled up in it self

This recipe yields at least twice the amount shown in the picture.

To make the cookies waferthin you will need a WAFER IRON.

TRADITIONAL DUTCH NEW YEAR'S EVE COOKIES

500 grams AP flour

450 grams white caster sugar

30 grams of vanillasugar

5 eggs

200 grams unsalted melted butter

lukewarm water if needed

Combine the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla sugar in a large coleander.

Mix at high speed over a pan of hot water ("au bain marie") until the eggs turns slightly whiter and the mixture is nice and frothy.

Take the coleander away from the hot water pan. Sift the flour into the mixture. Add the melted butter little by little to form a smooth batter, about the consistency of yoghurt. The batter should "ooze" from the spoon.

Add some lukewarm water if needed to get the right consistency.

Spoon a dollop of batter on to the heated wafer iron and press hard for about 8-10 seconds. The wafer should come out nice and golden brown.

When making flat wafers: leave on a rack to cool.

When making rolled up wafers: roll the wafer onto a fingerthick wooden ladle or thin rolling pin. Let them set for about 20 seconds and transfer to a cooling rack.

Wishing all of my TFL-friends a healthy, inspiring and positive 2011! Thank you for all the feedback on my posts. I hope you will all continue to make me a better home-baker in the coming year!

Warm greetings from Amsterdam,

Freerk

Hey guys, I need your help!

So my brother saw my breads and now he wants in on it :-)

He wants me to make him and his wonderful family my variation on a traditional regional Dutch currant-bread associated with the holidays. At Xmas, New Years, but also at Easter, in the East and North of the Netherlands a lot of people eat this traditional "krentenwegge" (a heavy currantbread with an almondpaste filling). This is what the original loaf looks like...

You'll have to imagine the almond paste filling in the middle, I could not find a very satisfying pic.

There are numerous traditional recipes going around on the net, BUT.....

I never really liked these breads as a kid. I'm not too big on currants, but a big lover of almond paste, so as a kid I always found myself in a dilemma; I want the almond paste, but do I really need to eat ALL those currants to get it...? After getting too old to eat the almond paste and feed the rest to the dog, I just left the bread for what it was...

Until now! I want to make a lighter version of this bread. I want it to look like a buttermilk cluster (fresh out of the oven here today :-)

and preferably with the sweet taste of polenta dough, where I replace the currants with a decent amount of dried candied cranberries (also fresh out of the oven here today):

The idea is to fill each individual roll in the cluster with a little almond paste whilst forming the rolls. I'm not at all certain about the polenta dough, but somehow I feel it could give me the crumb that I'm looking for (light, airy, yellowy...). Also the sweetness of the polenta could taste great with the almonds and cranberries. That is; if I manage to get it as light and airy as I have it my mind's eye :-)

Before embarking on this triple-fusion baking experiment I would like to hear your input on what dough to choose for this sweet bread. I've also been thinking about the dough for the cream cheese braid. Could that be a viable option?

Thanks to the members here who originally posted these two recipes here. I can't really find out anymore who posted the originals, but you guys know who you are; Thanks a bunch!

I'd love to hear from you guys

Freerk

 I'm sure that many of TFL members remember the recipe -http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15778/g%C3%A9rard-rubaud-miche submitted by Shiao-Ping. 

On November I was experimenting with the recipe-changing flours, adjusting time of proofing and fermentation.

Whole Grain Miche

 Recipe: http://bochenkowo.blogspot.com/2010/11/whole-grain-miche-wiejski-razowy.html

Second-Pine Nut Rye Bread with  pâte fermentée

Recipe: http://bochenkowo.blogspot.com/2010/11/pine-nuts-rye-bread-with-pate-fermentee.html

Third Miche with Chestnuts

Recipe :http://bochenkowo.blogspot.com/2010/11/miche-with-chestnutschleb-z-kasztanami.html

Recently I've been on a mission to really try and improve my food photography. Although I make sourdough pancakes quite often i decided to really take a stab at re-vamping my original post. The recipe is still pretty much identical however this time I topped each pancake with some diced lightly seasoned apples. They really reminded me of traditional german Apple kuchen. They came out delicious and perfectly fluffy. We topped some with home made blueberry and cherry compote and I also caramelized some bananas. 

Link to recipe : http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/10/sourdough-pancakes-revisit-and-foodie.html