Mum Dijk's Ontbijt Koek /  Mum's Dutch Honey Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 Cups self raising flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup or Appel Stroop (Apple Syrup)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon each of nutmeg, ground cloves and ginger powder
• 2 teaspoons Dutch cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon mixed peel (or tablespoon of good marmalade) and milk (OR 1 dessertspoon orange peel and 1 cup orange juice)

Method

• Mix all ingredients  together and pour into a large loaf pan, greased and lined with baking paper. 
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 35-50 minutes in a regular oven. 
• Less time for fan forced. 
• Check for browning and insert fork or similar and when it comes out clean it's ready.

Enjoy with a good smear of real butter or plain with your morning coffee or anytime of the day really.

Pictures are of a half eaten Koek but shows the texture and colour! 

It was very yummy and went fast.  

For a larger recipe use two smaller loaf pan and increase to these measurements:

• 3 eggs
• 3 cups SR Flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4.5 tablespoons honey
• 1.5 tsps spices
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 cups liquids

Easy to make.

Enjoy!

 Mum Dijk's Dutch Croquettes

These are traditionally served on New Year's Eve, but now they are eaten really any time. They do take a little bit of work but are delicious as a snack served on a serviette with a dollop of French Mustard or also served with a salad as a meal.  Enjoy!

You will need:

• 1 pkt of Continental Dutch Curry and Rice Soup (Still  available at Woollies or IGA in Australia)
• 600 mls cold water
• 500 grams mince steak or veal
• 60 grams butter (of mararine)
• 5 tablespoons plain flour
• Handful of fresh parsley chopped

The coating:

• Large packet breadcrumbs
• Several egg whites 

For frying: 1-2 packets Supa-Fry solid white oil (This oil gives the best results)

To Serve: French Mustard prepared or Seedy Dijon

How to do it:

1. Place minced meat, water and packet soup in a saucepan and simmer for 1/2 hour, stirring often to keep mixture from sticking to bottom of pan. 
2. After 1/2 hour, add butter to mixture and simmer for a further 1/2 hour
3. Add parsley and mix through
4. Sprinkle flour over mixture and immediately stir flour through and continue cooking the mixture for about 5 minutes until a smooth paste is attained.
5. Spread mixture in large baking or lamington tin. Spray with oil and line with baking paper if you want first.
6. Allow to cool until set and cold.

Putting it all together:

1. Take a knife and score the set mixture into rectangular portions.
2. Prepare 2-3 egg whites with a drop of oil and 1 tablespoon of iced water and beat till lightly frothy
3. Place breadcrumbs in shallow bowl
4. Roll meat mix between your hands into you short, sausage like shapes
5. Roll each one in breadcrumbs, then egg whites, then breadcrumbs again.

To Fry:

1. Melt solid oil in a deep saucepan til very hot. 
2. Add several croquettes and deep fry them until golden brown. If oil is too hot it will burn the crumbs, if not hot enough, they tend to fall apart. Good idea to try a piece of bread first, or a croquette to see how quickly or not it browns. 
3. Serve immediately or put in hot oven until all croquettes are ready to serve.

Please note:

      Croquettes can be frozen after bread crumbing them. I find they are better unfrozen, but          you could freeze some and see.

Enjoy your Dutch Croquettes!

NYE Dutch Apple Fritters (Appel Beignets)

Mum's Dutch Apple Fritters (Appel Beignets) with icing sugar

This is what you will need:

• Granny Smith apples 2kg  or as many as you want... each apple makes about 5-6 fritters (or any green, tart, apples) 
• Crepe batter - ratio - 1 cup plain flour, 1 egg, 1 -1 and1/2 cup water (or milk and water if preferred), pinch salt. The consistency should by fairly thin, but should still coat the apple slices well (Make double quantity if you want to use about 10 apples)
• Supafry solid white oil for deep frying - 2 pkts  (I have found this oil gives the best results)
• Sifted icing sugar (soft powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar)

You will also need:

• Apple corer (available in any supermarket/hardware/kitchen shop for a couple of $s)
• Bowl with cold water and juice 1/2 lemon
• Saucepan for frying or deep fryer
• Absorbent kitchen paper
• Knife
• Potato peeler

This is what you do: 

1. For batter - Sift plain flour into wide jug or bowl and add egg(s) and water or water/milk and whisk well together until mixture is well blended and of a runny consistency to coat the apple slices. (see ratio in ingredient section)
2. Core, peel and slice apples and place in bowl with water and lemon so they don't go brown before you are ready to use them
3. Dry apples in a clean tea towel or cloth and add about 5-8 slices to the batter
4. Heat the oil till very hot...test with a little batter to see how fast it browns. Adjust heat so that the batter doesn't burn..you want the apple to be cooked through
5. When oil is right temperature, add the coated apple slices one by one to the oil...depending on size of pan, about 4-5 at a time. Turn them over half way through browning
6. Lift out with a fork or tongs, drain in basket and/or place on absorbent kitchen paper towel
7. Repeat until batter/apples are used up.

To serve:

Sift some icing sugar into a bowl and dip fritters into sugar or sprinkle some over each serving to taste. The sugar adds to the flavour as the apples are quite tart (sour).

ENJOY your Dutch Apple Fritters!

ENJOY your New Year's Eve celebration - I wish you a very happy 2013.

My family's NYE traditions

NYE 2011-2012 Sydney Fireworks

Even though I'm Dutch born, I don't bother much with traditional Dutch food, however...I do like to carry on one family tradition, which is to serve Dutch Croquettes (kroketten) and Apple Fritters (Appel Beignets) on NYE.

My mum would spend most of NYE day in the kitchen, complete with apron and a towel turban around her head ("to keep the oily smell out of my hair " she said) when deep frying the croquettes and fritters. She never made the croquettes and fritters herself in her home country, because in the mid 20th Century many well to do families had live in help. The 'help' would spend days making tubs of fritters and croquettes for our large family and business and household staff.

Here in Brisbane, QLD though, where it's steaming hot at the turn of the year, mum would be perspiring over a very hot stove and feel quite hot and bothered by the time she was finished. After a cool shower she would appear changed and fresh as a daisy, ready to face the evening surrounded by her family and an influx of friends.

Anyway...rave on Tricia...better get those recipes typed up but please be WARNED! This recipe is not for you if you are on a diet, are super health conscious, gluten free, sugar free, fat free etc. This is a 'once a year' recipe which you share with friends and family. It's not a meal, although you can serve the croquettes as a meal with a nice fresh salad and I have done so in the past, but mainly it's a delicious savoury snack to serve in a serviette with a dollop of French mustard and a glass of bubbly of some kind.  I'm not a drinker as such, so a non-alcoholic or soft drink will do quite fine.

Ok, here goes and enjoy these 2 traditional recipes from my mother's recipe book.

Please click here > Recipe tab  or on the recipe tab above ^^ to find the recipe if you can't see it on this page..

Mum's Dutch pancakes (crepes)

Recipe #2

You will need:
1 cup plain flour
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
good pinch salt
Some cooking oil

In a wide jug or small bowl place all ingredients and mix.
Beat with whisk or wooden spoon till bubbles rise.
Make sure mixture is quite thin and runny and if necessary add more water.

Pour oil into frypan and heat on high heat until it starts to smoke a little bit, then pour excess oil off into a cup. Repeat. (This helps to 'cure' the pan before adding the batter.) Do this once between each crepe.
Pour batter into centre of very hot frypan, swirling the batter to distribute it thinly over the entire surface.
Cook, sliding the pan across heat until one side is cooked.
Toss pancake or use egg slide to flip and cook other side.
When cooked slide onto plate.
Sprinkle with sugar and fresh lemon juice while pancake is hot.
Roll pancake up, using a fork.
Serve.

Repeat until all batter is used and everyone is happy.
You can have the last ones... :-)

Note: This quantity makes about 7-8 crepes. Just double or triple the recipe for however  many you need.
Other toppings: Golden syrup, Strawberry jam, Maple syrup.