Speculaas

 

Speculaas is a type of shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on St Nicholas' Eve in the Netherlands (December 5). In recent decades it has become available all year round. Speculaas are thin, very crunchy, slightly browned and, most significantly, have some image or figure (often from the traditional stories about St. Nicholas) stamped on the front side before baking; the back is flat.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
a pinch of baking powder
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
some milk to soften the dough
2 teaspoons of speculaaskruiden*
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup almonds: blanched and slivered. Keep some almond halves for decorating

Directions:

Knead all ingredients into a soft ball, except the almonds for decorating. Roll out on a floured board to 1/4 inch thickness and stamp out shapes with different butterprints or make a 'gingerbread doll' or cookie. Bake about 25 minutes in a moderate oven (350° F / 180° C), or until an even dark brown.

*Speculaaskruiden:

You can buy them ready-mixed in the Netherlands or you can try making your own.

They consist of:

• cinnamon
• powdered cloves
• nutmeg
• powdered coriander
• allspice
• aniseed
• powdered ginger
• powdered cardamon
• mace

The proportions are a matter of taste, as are the spices you use, and each baker has his own "secret" blend. The trick is to be careful with the very strong spices, and leave out the ones you don't like!

You can eat it on your bread ass well with some butter.
 

Dutch apple pie

The Dutch are proud of their 'appeltaart'. If you ever been in the Netherlands, you probably found it on every menucard. Ofcourse is homemade the best and we serve it at birthdays as well. We eat it with a lot of whipped cream or vanilla icecream as dessert. 

INGREDIENTS:

for the dough:

2 1/8 cups of selfrising flour (300 gr)
3/4 cup butter or margarine (180 gr)
1/2 cup brown sugar (150 gr)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or 8 gr vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt

for the filling:

2 1/4 lbs apples (1 kg)
3/4 cup raisins (washed and dried, 100 gr)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (40 gr)
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon custard

And
1/2 jar of apricot jam
1 egg



DIRECTIONS:

For the dough:

• Sieve the flour, brown sugar, vanilla and salt into a bowl.
• Cut the butter or margarine into small cubes and add these to the flour mixture.
• Beat the egg and add to the flour mixture.
• Using two knives, mix the butter/margarine and the flour mixture.
• Using one hand, kneed it to form the dough - you should be able to form it into a ball (this may take quite long).
• Put the ball of dough in the fridge for about an hour, in the meantime make the filling.

For the filling :

• Peel the apples and cut them in cubes (allow the sizes to vary -- it'll taste better).
• In a (large) bowl, combine apple, raisins, (granulated) sugar, cinnamon, the lemon juice and the custard.
• Mix well and allow the flavors to blend, stirring occasionally.

Then :

• Butter a 9-inch round springform cake pan, or spray it with a non-stick spray.
• Line the pan (bottom and sides) with about 3/4 of the dough - as long as the pan is covered, the layer need not be very thick.
• Cover the bottom with the remaining semolina.
• Add the filling, but try to leave the juices out.
• On a lightly floured surface, foll out of the remaining dough until it's less than 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick.
• Cut the dough into strips and layer them over the apple pie to form a raster, covering no more than one third of the surface--you should be able to see quite a bit of the apple pieces (see picture).
• If necessary, use (some of) the remaining dough to make the edges a bit higher.
• Use the remaining egg to coat the dough strips.
• Bake the pie at 175°C / 340°F, just below the middle of your oven, for about 75 minutes.
• If you have any dough left, roll it out, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (or left-over apple mixture) and bake it on baking paper for a few minutes.
• Remove the springform only *after* the pie has cooled.
• Heat up the apricot jam till its liquid and brush it on top of the pie. It will give it a nice shinning.

Serve warm (reheat in oven or microwave) or cold, with whipped or ice cream, or freeze.