Happy Vastenavond!

This Shrove Tuesday (‘Vastenavond’), rather than the flimsy English pancakes we usually cobble together, we will be making poffertjes, small, fluffy Dutch pancakes, made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Typically, poffertjes are served with powdered sugar and butter, and sometimes syrup, and we recommend eating them with strawberries and whipped cream – delicious!

Poffertjes are not difficult to prepare – we will be using this recipe, courtesy of DutchFood.com:

Ingredients:

v  1 level tsp instant yeast

v  1 tbsp milk

v  1 cup buckwheat flour (100 g)

v  1 cup flour (100 g)

v  2 eggs

v  1 tsp sugar

v  1/2 tsp salt

v  1 1/4 cups warm milk (250 ml)

v  1 tbsp butter

v  Strawberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar to serve

Preparation:

• In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk. In a separate bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, flour, eggs, yeast, sugar, salt and half the milk. Whisk smooth. Now add the remaining milk and beat again.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest for an hour.
• Melt butter in a frying pan. When it sizzles, add teaspoonfuls of the batter in circular movements to create the mini pancakes. Turn the poffertjes around as soon as the bottom has set, using two forks.
• Serve poffertjes with strawberries, whipped cream and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Poffertjes are a popular street-side food throughout Holland – if this recipe gets you hankering for the real thing, hop over to Holland on Stena Line and satisfy your craving!