The Dutch Influence

We're fortunate to hold our Thursday meetings in Grace Christian Reformed Church, and it has a significant number of folks of Dutch ancestry in the congregation.  Several of them join us on Thursdays.  As well, there are folks in our rug hooking group with Dutch family members.  

One day Lydia brought us in a treat:  Boterkoek, or Butter Cake.  To the uninitiated, it's a cross between cake and cookie, and typically served with coffee.  It looks like shortbread, but has a chewier texture.  It's wonderful!

That started me on a search for recipes, and i found that there are many variations of it, many with almond flavouring, but some with lemon or ginger.  There is a LOT of butter in it - a very similar quantity to that used in shortbread.

For comparison i brought in some Scottish Shortbread (recipe below)....popular, but nothing like Boterkoek.

A week or 2 later, Margaret Eindhoven brought in another dutch treat: Ontbijtkoek, or Breakfast Cake.  This was a dense rich spice bread, typically served at breakfast time, and with coffee.

Christine went home to search her cookbooks and came up with a couple of recipes and here they are, along with links to a few other variations:

Boterkoek (Buttercake)

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup chilled unsalted butter

1 tbsp almond extract

1 egg

Place all ingredients, except the egg, into a large bowl.  Cut the butter into pieces using a knife.  Knead all ingredients together into a dough ball.  Press into a greased 8" round cake pan.  Beat the egg.  Brush the top of the cake with the beaten egg and allow the surplus egg to run off.

Temperature:  350F

Baking time:  30 minutes or until golden brown

Serves:  8

Tip:  Always keep your buttercake dough chilled.

Here's a link to a variation on buttercake....in this one most of the egg goes into the cake and only a little is brushed on top.

Ontbijtkoek (Breakfast Cake)

7 eggs, separated

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup whole milk

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup melted honey

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup candied ginger

3 tbsp ginger syrup

1 tsp salt

1 cup candied ginger

Beat egg yolks with the flour.  Add butter, milk, brown sugar, honey, and mix on medium speed.  Add spices, ginger, syrup and salt.  Beat egg whites until they are stiff.  Fold into the flour mixture.  Grease 2 loaf pans and divide the batter between them.  Top each loaf with 1/2 cup of candied ginger.

Temperature:  350F

Baking time:  45-50 min

Yield: 2 large loaves

Here's another variation on Ontbijtkoek.

Not to be outdone, Christine also sent along another yummy recipe from the same cookbook:

Appeltaart (Apple Tart)

3 cups flour

1 1/3 cups white sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, cold

2 eggs

Filling:

   6-8 tart apples, peeled and chopped into small pieces

   3/4 cup currants

   3/4 cup raisins

   grated peel of 1 lemon

   1 cup of white sugar (or less if apples are not that tart)

   1 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour and sugar.  Cut butter into small pieces and add to flour.  Add 1 beaten egg and mix until uniform.  Refrigerate while filling is prepared.

Combine all filling ingredients.

Line a greased springform pan with a portion of the refrigerated dough to a thickness of 1/8".  Add the filling.  Take the remaining dough and roll it into thin pieces to make a lattice on the top of the filling.  Brush with beaten egg.

Temperature:  350F

Baking time:  1 1/4 hours

Serves: 8

This makes a very deep pie.  To ensure the bottom is cooked, bake it close to the bottom of the oven.

....and for good measure, here's a recipe for Scottish Shortbread.  The ratio of butter to flour is similar to Boterkoek, but a very different texture and taste.

Scottish Shortbread

The key to this recipe is to mix it with your hands, never with a spoon.  The heat of your hands helps to melt the butter into the flour and give it that melt in your mouth texture.

1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour

1 tbsp cornstarch (i often forget to add this and it doesn't seem to matter)

more white sugar

Preheat oven to 325F. Mix butter and sugar together with your hands.  Mix in flour with your hands.  Roll the dough out to desired thickness (add flour to keep the dough from sticking) and cut into shapes.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet, prick with a fork and bake.  Baking time depends on the size of the cookies.  Tiny ones take 12-15 minutes.  Medium sized cookies take 20-25 minutes.  They're done when the bottoms are just beginning to colour.  As soon as you take them out of the oven, sprinkle the hot cookies (still on the baking sheet) with white sugar.  (the heat of the cookies will make the sugar cling to the cookies).