Dutch Apple Pie

Dutch apple pie is the most ubiquitous type of cake in the Netherlands, you can get it everywhere - every restaurant, cafe, bar, pub... And it's everyone's favorite. Obviously, no one in the world should be left out. It's really easy to make, and I actually think it's way, way better than American pie... Because the crust is SWEET. Exactly. I have a friend who's grandma makes just the crust for him when she bakes apple pie; just because he doesn't like apples. Otherwise, he would always pick off the crust off the cake, a well-known activity among children that annoys everyone else. He never told his grandma that he really just preferred picking it off.

Every family has their own recipe for 'Appeltaart'; and this is mine. Enjoy!

For dough:
300 grams of self rising flour; or 300 grams plain flour + 4 tsp baking powder + 1.5 tsp salt
200 grams of cold butter, in cubes
160 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
a pinch of salt

For filling:
1 kg of hard, sour apples (Granny Smith)
2 tbsp lemon juice
90 grams of sugar
3 heaping tbsp cinnamon
5 tablespoons apricot jam
80 grams of raisins


Preheat oven to 175C/350F degrees. Cut a circle (or square) of parchment paper slightly bigger than the diameter of your spring form pan and line within the form. Pan should preferably be 25 cm diameter or larger. Grease the sides of the spring form pan.


Mix together flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt.






Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter through the flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt, until the mixture is crumbly.


Use your fingers to crumble mixture further; then add 3/4 of the egg and lightly knead until dough is cohesive.


Wrap tightly in plastic foil and place in the fridge






Peel and core the apples; rubbing lemon juice over them.




Cut into bite-size pieces and transfer to bowl; adding more lemon juice to prevent browning. Sprinkle over cinnamon and sugar, adding four tablespoons of apricot jam and the raisins. Stir until mixed.




Take the dough out of the fridge and divide into five equal pieces. Use two of these to make the bottom of the cake; lining the bottom of the pan by making a rough disc of the dough and pushing it into place with the tips of your fingers.


Use two more pieces of dough to line the sides, which is easiest by dividing the chunk of dough into quarters and making sausages from these pieces; then pushing them along the sides with your fingers. Make the edge about 10 cm/5 inches high and be careful not to make it too thin (although it will rise with baking).


Pour in apple filling. Divide the last piece of dough into 8 pieces and make a lattice top. Don't worry about thin, flimsy latticework - it will puff up. Use the rest of the egg to brush the latticework.


Bake the cake for roughly 80 minutes; turning down heat if it browns too fast.


Let cool for five minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife and remove the sides of the spring form. Use the parchment circle to remove cake from spring form bottom and transfer to plate.

Let cool completely before eating - this cake really is better when eaten cold. It's at its peak after one or two days. Yes, really.





This cake is great and an absolute Dutch classic. However, it REALLY only comes to its full right when it has cooled down - there is a verb in Dutch that describes what happens to a cake when it cools down and becomes better, but it would get lost in translation ('besterven'). This cake is a little too crumbly when it just comes out of the oven; it will firm up after a stay in the fridge and be delicious. All I can say is make this cake, restrain your self, and enjoy. It is absolutely perfect for fall! Maybe try it as a new kind of dessert for Thanksgiving for you American people out there! The make-ahead quality will win you over, and the cake itself will win over your guests.
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My Own Super Healthy Brown Bread

This recipe was the result of combining several online recipes with my own preexisting breadmaking skills. It mainly came forth out of my desire to find actual proper healthy brown bread in a country where I can't seem to find ANY. (Manchester, the U.K.) So I figured, why not make my own! Here's the result, and it's lovely.

Baking bread requires a lot of technique that may seem intimidating if you've never done it before, but actually isn't when it comes down to it. You just need a couple tries to get the hang of it, after which you'll be able to bake awesome breads. To be absolutely sure, I'll have just noted the most obvious instructions and hints.


Firstly, this bread uses a seed mixture which you can make once and store in a jar with a tight lid for a while.
For the seed mixture:
300 grams sesame seeds
300 grams sunflower seeds
300 grams pumpkin seeds
175 cold-milled, crushed, or whole flaxseed

Don't worry, it does not need to be this exact mixture - it's simply what I used. I definitely reccomend the sunflower and flaxseed though.

For the wet ingredients, you will need to heat the following ingredients in a saucepan:
2 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons molasses
4 tablespoons butter




Heat mixture over low heat until well mixed, and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix:
2 cups of the seed mixture
2 tablespoons salt
About 5 cups of whole wheat flour.






(I know that 'about' sounds vague and therefore difficult, but the amount of flour is simply something you need to work out according to the stickiness or dryness of your dough. It's easy to gauge whether or not your dough feels 'right' - firm but sproingy - and you should just add flour or water accordingly.
Start out with 5 cups of whole wheat flour, and add more as needed to make the dough come together. Aim for just enough to be able to pour the dough onto a well-floured countertop without making a huge mess. Just use your noodle.)

Finally, you will need to make the sponge. In a bowl, mix:
3 packets of yeast (about 7 grams each)
a threefingered pinch of sugar
1/2 cup warm water - about body temperature, so not over 98.6F/37C degrees. Hotter than this will kill the yeast, and killing the yeast is not good.




Pour water over sugar and yeast, and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.






In the large bowl containing the flour, mix in the wet ingredients and the sponge, and mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon until a tough dough mixture that almost isn't stirrable anymore comes together. If needed, add more flour. In this case, I used 7! cups of whole wheat, and 3 cups of white flour to get my dough to come together.






Pour the dough onto a well-floured countertop, and with floured or greased hands (I tend to alternate), knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. Technique isn't key here - whatever you're doing to your dough, it's most likely O.K.
When your dough is at the right state, it will feel nice and sproingy yet firm. Like, well, dough.




Taking a sharp knife or a dough cutter (no tearing!) cut the dough in half; form into balls and place in two seperate greased bowls. Turn over the balls of dough to make sure they are well greased. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a moist towel, and let rise for 1 1/2 to two hours, until doubled. Dough is doubled when a dent made into the dough with your fingers does not spring back.




Pour the dough onto an again floured work surface, and deflate it by gently pressing out the air with your fingers. To make loaves, make a thick sort of jelly roll, and place in well greased loaf pan. To make rounds, make a tightly-stretched ball (tuck excess dough underneath the ball) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. As you can see, I conveniently did both. Cover once again with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to an hour.

Right before baking, carefully wet the tops of the loaves or rounds by sprinkling some water on them, and sprinkle over additional seeds if you like - I used poppy seeds. Cut an x into the top of the round with a sharp knife, to make sure it retains its shape.

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until well-browned and loaves, when tapped, sound hollow. If you want to be precise and have a thermometer, aim for a internal temperature of about 200F/90C degrees.






This bread is very very lovely - if you like healthy, hearty brown or black breads. I certainly do, I feel deprived if I don't eat breads that are very high in fibre and nutritional content. As I mentioned before, I CAN NOT find proper bread around here. I think it's because there's a lack of bakeries - I can't find many bakeries, and when I do, they usually have a line that stretches to outside the shop. I am uncomfortable buying bagged bread in the supermarket, and thus, there is nothing left but just to settle for making it yourself. Luckily I really enjoy making my own bread.
I put this recipe together myself, loosely based on recipes I have read online before but only vaguely remember. The 'wet ingredients' mixture is the only thing I needed to look up, and I thank Smitten Kitchen's Russian Black Bread recipe for that. Sort-of. Either way, this bread is wonderful.






Next time I am going to experiment by putting in a little more salt - I am not sure if it needs it, but I am curious to try. It is however very nice just as it is, and it will certainly be one of my staples for the future.




Finally, one tip: Home made bread does not keep well. Since this recipe makes to hefty loaves, I like to cut the bread in advance and store it in the freezer in freezer bags. Each morning, I take out the amount of bread I want and simply defrost it in the toaster. 20 seconds in the microwave will also work. This really is the only way to keep homemade bread unless you are planning to eat every last bit of it within several hours.
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Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Yes, the recipe is for muffins, I however don't have a muffin tin here, so I used some tiiiiiiiiny cupcake liners, and a 20 cm cake tin! Recipe adapted from The Food Network.

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
juice of one lemon
4 tablespoons yoghurt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375F/190C degrees. Line 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners or brush with butter.


In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.


In another bowl, cream together butter, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in poppy seeds.


Fold in flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, until just combined. For big fluffy muffins, make sure not to over mix - flour pockets aren't a bad thing! For more demure cupcakes, beat the mixture a little further.


Divide batter evenly over muffin tin, cupcake liners or cake tin, and bake until golden brown and slightly springy to the touch, anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes.

I love lemon poppyseed muffins, and unfortunately I don't have a muffin tin here (and haven't seen one that costs less than 13 pounds, otherwise I'd have one already) otherwise I'd have made actual muffins. As it was I made a ton of tiny ones, that went over well with my flat mates. They certainly won't win any prizes for beauty, but I'll get good at baking in an unfamiliar kitchen. Soon. I promise.


I modified this recipe a little bit and in my opinion it could have used more sugar, so I changed the 2/3 cup I used to a whole cup here, but feel free to add more if you like. These cakes are simply very nice, not too greasy and lovely and lemony!
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