Love for ontbijtkoek
We can all make things difficult with high-brow recipes and ingredients, but at home we’re just as happy to go for simple and simply good. The best Dutch cheese, the ultimate boiled egg and, in between, a thick slice of ontbijtkoek – naturally spread generously with butter.
There’s a good chance you did it as a child: koekhappen. And although this public torture ritual may seem like a typically old-Dutch scene, the slices of kruidkoek that you have to bite off with your hands behind your back are anything but; from France to the United States, the same kind of pastry flies off the shelves. In the Netherlands and Belgium alone, dozens of different varieties are baked. The common denominator: a base of (rye) flour, water and honey. At least, originally. We’ve listed our favorites for you.
Ontbijtkoek
Naturally, we’ll start with the Dutch ontbijtkoek, kruidkoek, peperkoek – you name it. These days, honey has been replaced by sugar in most Dutch varieties, and even that has been challenged in recent years. Our advice: go to your favorite baker. There’s a good chance you’ll find a fantastic regional specialty on the shelves. The best-known Dutch varieties are Deventerkoek, ginger cake, Groningen’s oudewijvenkoek, kandijkoek and, of course, the incomparable Bossche koek. Every koek is different, but the most common flavorings besides the spices are candied citron, rock sugar and ginger.
Lebkuchen
A typical Christmas classic that, with a little luck, you can still snatch from a bin in the bargain section of a German Aldi. These glazed cakes are generally made with ground hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds and flavored with spices, candied orange and lemon zest.
Pain d’épice
The thick but delicious French sister of lebkuchen is the nonnette. This dense cake is more similar in recipe to pain d’épice, but is also filled with orange marmalade and topped with icing. You’ll mainly find them in the regions around Reims and Lyon, so if you’re elsewhere in France, look for pain d’épice. This French equivalent of Dutch kruidkoek is sweetened with honey and given extra flavor with ground aniseed. Though a good boulanger also adds a generous splash of pastis.
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