Food for Winter

November is pretty cold, grey and wet in Holland but the Dutch seem to use this as an excuse to invent delicious cold weather food.  This week I've come across some traditional Dutch winter foods that should make the weather a bit easier to bear.  Any of these would be perfect to eat in front of the fireplace on a cold rainy evening- but I guess I'll have to settle for eating in front of the heater.

Pepernoten

These spongy little cookies taste of ginger, cinnamon and a bit of aniseed.  They have a texture unlike anything I've tried before- they are not crunchy, but they are more solid than a cake or a muffin.

Pepernoten

Kruidnoten

Round and crunchy, Kruidnoten taste similar to gingernut biscuits but have some extra spices that make them taste like speculaas.  These are a specialty for Sinterklaas in early December.  They are delicious and really small so you always want just one more. 

Kruidnoten

Stamppot

My friend Yoram and his wife were lovely enough to invite us over for dinner and show us some genuine home made Dutch cuisine.  Deborah cooked us 'rauwe andijviestamppot met spek en rookworst'- raw endive stamppot with bacon, rookworst sausage and mustard.  This is basically mashed potato with some vegetables mixed in.  It sounds simple but tastes really good.  It is served with mustard and some fresh capsicum which cuts through the heaviness of the other ingredients- delicious.

Stamppot

Olibollen
An oliebol (literally 'oil ball') is like a ball shaped donut with raisins in it, normally served with a sprinkling of icing sugar.  This typical Dutch winter food is eaten especially on New Year's Eve but they are already being sold in November.  There is a temporary food cart set up on Museumplein that sells really good oliebollen.