Monday, October 06, 2008

Is it really really broken? Dutch Boterkoek

No, not yet, but like almost every appliance in this house (including the house-owner) it's not functioning at its utmost. "It" is the oven and I made sure it's not listening in on this conversation. I know it's not going to be replaced soon so we need to be friends for a while longer. Not broken completely, but also not functioning at it's best are my washer, the fridge, and the stove. The oven. I was very happy with the oven in this house when we first moved, but I think I gave it a real workout and it's now resembling it's main user..... Still heating up (slower than usual) has a bit of trouble keeping it's temperature even, a bit hot here and there and colder in the extremities. Can't bake a decent cake.

Sometimes I wish they would shut down completely in that I have the ultimate excuse to replace. I'm having a bit of trouble replacing something that is still functioning. I mean my brain is not functioning properly at times and I wouldn't want my husband to go and replace me for a younger upgraded model.

Edit: Aaargh! I know I shouldn't have said this out loud. Draft post. Not good. Noticed I mentioned almost every appliance in my kitchen besides the microwave? Guess what happened last week? Yep, Microwave shut down. Off to the happy baking grounds.

Comforting recipe not using melted butter:
Cashew nut buttercake
(from "Koekje" by Cees Holtkamp & Kees Raat)
75 gr raw -not roasted- cashew nuts
75 gr sugar
75 gr boter softened
pinch salt
pinch fresh ground pepper
75 gr ap flour, sifted
optional: PX sherry/dessert wine for dipping purposes (?!)
- Using a food processer, ground nuts and sugar to a fine powder.
- Add butter, salt and pepper and stir to blend with a wooden spoon.
- Add the sifted flour and knead to dough.
- Lightly flour your workspace and proceed to roll out a disk 24 cm wide.
- Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper and butter the sides, transfer the dough disk to the pan.
- In a pre heated oven 170 C, bake for 18 minutes.
After 10 minutes cooling, slice and serve. It's quite rich and usually is served in small pointy slices. This recipe suggests you dip your slice in a glass of sweet dessert wine or sweet (PX) sherry.
Our grandmothers used a shallow low-rimmed pan, you can use a springform pan (22 cm) or a cake pan, perhaps a pie plate will work? In case of a spring form I would suggest wrapping the outside of the bottom and up the sides with tin foil in case of butter-leakage.
the original Dutch recipe for "boterkoek" is not using nuts and results in a nice tender crust with a soft rich center, this one is somewhat more crumbly but I really liked the flavour!

8 comments:

  1. Ha Baking,

    Grappig, deze koek stond me wel aan, en ik had al bedacht dat ik hem met walnoten zou maken (daar hebben we er weer 3 Mio. van liggen), en toen las ik de bron: Koekje. Ha, en die heb ik ook gewoon in de kast staan :-)
    Morgen bak ik dus koek uit Koekje.

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  2. Definitely trying this out this weekend. I LOVE boterkoek, this one should not go down any differently in my book :)

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  3. Younger upgraded model in an oven sounds fine but on your brain - ouch! I think not!

    Now, broken buttercake - bring it on. That's beautiful!

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  4. Mm, failing kitchen appliances - they really can upset the day. Hang on, oven, hang on...

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  5. Younger, upgraded model - pah!

    There's such a fine balance between being brand new, broken in nicely and being ready for the scrap yard.

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  6. Mmmm more dutch recipes... Just did the BBB challenge so I've been on the lookout. Bookmarked!

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  7. @Amanda: "broken in nicely" that's a classic! I am going to remember that one!

    @Jude: Great! It was wonderful to see a classic Dutch loaf being raved about in foreign countries!

    @Annemarie: that's my mantra, followed by turning baking sheets hehe.

    @Janne Marijke: wow, such a Dutch name! Welcome!

    @Aranka: hmm ik ook! Ik heb zo'n hekel aan pellen! (Maar wel 3 kids..)

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  8. Really have to try this one out, yum.
    Thanks for checking out my blog, but I have translated some of my recipes in english and still have to finish translating the rest**kimmy

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