10 favorite Dutch baked treats

Do you think what Dutch bakers sell is boring and ordinary? It really isn’t all like that. There are plenty of delicious pastries and sticky buns to choose from that you simply won’t find abroad. From cakes and cookies to bread: these are nine Dutch favorites we’d happily stay home for.

Bolus

You roll the dough for this sweet Zeeland bun through brown sugar (and sometimes cinnamon) before rolling it up, letting it rise and baking it. In the oven, this creates a deliciously sticky layer, and that is exactly what makes the bolus so fantastic. We think these buns are best spread with a little butter.

Tompoes
It’s hard to get more Dutch than the tompoes (or tompouce, if you prefer). This impossible-to-eat-decently pastry made with puff pastry and pastry cream, topped with pink icing, is everyone’s favorite. Indispensable at Grandma’s birthday, and colored orange, a classic on King’s Day. The downside: supermarket tompoezen are often filled with airy, flavorless factory cream. We prefer firm, wobbly pastry cream with vanilla between the layers of our tompoes, so we always buy this pastry fresh from the baker.

Vlaai

The flat, airy, bread-like pastry base of vlaai is baked and then filled with cherries or apricots, finished with a pastry lattice and put back in the oven once more. You’ll also sometimes spot vlaai filled with rice, versions with apple and butter-pastry crumbs on top, and pudding vlaai filled with pastry cream and baked again. Did you know that a vlaai must have gone into the oven whole to be allowed to call it Limburgse vlaai? That includes the filling. So versions with, for example, bavarois and fresh strawberries technically shouldn’t be called that. And whipped cream on top is an absolute no-no.

Apple dumpling

The bol can’t compete with the unparalleled popularity of the apple turnover, and we don’t understand why. Because a truly good apple dumpling from the baker tastes fantastic and, unlike one you bake yourself, isn’t soggy, collapsed or wet. Because the peeled apple (without its core!) remains intact—in fact, it’s simply dressed in puff pastry—it stays satisfyingly firm and also gives you a lovely, fresh, tart apple flavor. This pastry becomes even more delicious when sugar and raisins go into the oven where the core used to be.

Gevulde koek

You’ll recognize this large, round cookie by the almond on top and the crimped edges. What you can’t see, but should know, is that the prepackaged gevulde koek from the supermarket contains pastry filling, a cheap substitute for almond paste. This makes the cookie a little stickier than the gevulde koek you buy at the baker’s. That one has buttery pastry filled with real almond paste.

Bokkenpoot

You can easily eat ten of these crisp, airy cookies. What makes the bokkenpoot so delicious? The chocolate combined with the almond meringue. The chocolate is traditionally supposed to be dark, but pastry chef Robèrt van Beckhoven prefers dipping the ends of his “legs,” filled with ganache, in white chocolate.

Stroopwafel

You can buy the quintessentially Dutch, Gouda stroopwafel at the market, often for less than two euros. And it’s worth every penny, because in return you get a huge, freshly baked warm waffle right in front of you. Also secretly delicious: an ultra-touristy version topped with your favorite ingredients—melted chocolate, strawberry or raspberry. Compared with the waffles above, a cold, hard stroopwafel from a bag is pretty boring. The ultimate tip: heat it briefly in the microwave.

Roze koek

Yes, the roze koek (or glacé koek) is also typically Dutch. We think it’s a brilliant invention. This flat cookie made from plain cake with a hard layer of pink fondant icing on top was something you always took to school in the old days. Did you know that this cookie sometimes also contains jam filling or almond paste?

Worstenbrood

There can be some debate about it: is the worstenbroodje more delicious, or the saucijzenbroodje? I’m team worstenbrood, mainly because of my Brabantian roots, I think. And yes, this bun comes from there. Either way: even if you’re a sausage-roll fan, you can’t deny that a spiced sausage wrapped in soft white bread, preferably warm, makes your mouth water. Right?

Suikerbrood
Frisian suikerbrood is actually at its best when it’s no longer fresh out of the oven. If you let the bread sit for a while, the sugar chunks become softer, and so does the white bread. That creates a sticky bite, which combines perfectly in your mouth with the slightly chewier bread.