Traditional Frisian Sugarbread

I'm proud of my Frisian roots and even though I like a good French baguette or an American pie, few things can top those traditional foods from your childhood. I know - your teeth might as well fall out at the sight of this super sugary bread. But ohmy. A sticky, flaky crust, the brioche-like inside studded with coarse pearl sugar and a cloud of cinnamon and ginger syrup to flavor the dough. Even though we aren't the only ones baking sugarbread, ask any Dutchman or woman what Frisians eat and 9/10 will answer "suikerbrood" or "sûkerbôle". There are versions of this bread in other parts of the Netherlands and even in Belgium, but apparently we Frisians like quite a bit of the ol' sucrose (although you wouldn't guess it, considering Frisians' general aversion to buttercream). We use about double the amount of sugar other bakers do - a whole lot. Recently, cooks, ice cream makers and bakers have been trying to give a modern twist to the bread by churning it into ice cream, or using it to make the most AMAZING of bread and butter puddings. 

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Frisian Dúmkes Recipe - "Thumb" Cookies with Anise

Anise is a pretty rare spice in baking. It's not your staple spice like cinnamon or ginger. But I think it's one of those spices that is actually pretty amazing once you get to know it. And why not get acquainted through these yummy Frisian cookies? 

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Swedish Gingerbread House and Pepparkakor

Up until yesterday I had never (succesfully) made a gingerbread house. In the Netherlands it's not really a thing, we are more speculaas eaters and speculaas is notoriously short - not building material! In Sweden however, there is a great tradition of building "pepparkakshus". I have wanted to make one of these for ages, basically since I was a kid. I tried making one with the Hummingbird Bakery gingerbread recipe two years in a row but failed miserably. This time I was absolutely determined to be successful!

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Chewy Stem Gingernuts

This recipe is a firm favorite - I adore ginger in all of its shapes and forms and this gingernut combines both ground and stem ginger for a gingery explosion. What's not to love right?

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Vegan Brandy Snaps

Some of you might remember these Brandy Snaps from the Great British and the Australian Bake Off where they were featured as a technical challenge. I'm always up for a challenge and I made things harder for myself by transforming these snaps into a vegan, lactose-free version. Its name suggests some form of brandy being involved, but in fact " brandy"  here is a derivative of the adjective "branded". Branded means "Of a tawny or brownish colour, marked with bars or streaks of a different hue" and was used to describe the color of cattle and other animals in the olden days (definition from the OED). Actually, I think it describes the colour of this rolled biscuit quite accurately.

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