Worstenbroodjes

It is funny that I am the Dutch baker’s daughter and, yet, I rarely post any Dutch recipes. My family moved to the USA from Holland two years before I was born. Subsequently, I grew up with them speaking Dutch to me….and I would answer them in English. With food, since both of my parents spent so much time working in the bakery, I would fend for myself. They did prepare many a Dutch specialty for holidays and on the occasional weekend, but, unfortunately, they both passed away when I was too young to have had any interest in making this food for myself. I sure do remember some of those Dutch specialties, though! So, with my older sister’s taste testing help, I set about trying to replicate some of my favorites (and hers!).

The worstenbroodje is, basically, sweet bun dough wrapped around meat that is shaped into a sausage. This was something my father made for all special occasions. I’ve seen these made with frozen bread dough, but it’s not the same taste I remember. My sister has given my creation the “thumbs up”, so I know I’m not too far off.

Worstebroodjes
Printable Recipe

Meat

• ½ pound ground chuck
• ½ pound ground pork
• ½ pound ground veal*
• ½ cup crushed Holland Rusk or unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg, beaten

*May use 2 parts ground chuck, 1 part ground pork.

Dough

• 1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, room temperature, beaten
• 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
• 3-3 ½ cups flour

Combine the ground chuck, pork and veal in a large bowl. Add Holland Rusk, nutmeg, salt, pepper and 1 beaten egg. Mix gently by hand until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

(Holland Rusk is a crispy, round toast that is a Dutch staple. Buying some of this brought back even more memories....we used to eat it with milk and sugar instead of cereal. I assume this is kind of like what my husband means when he talks about "milk toast".)

But, I digress....

In large mixing bowl, combine warm milk, sugar, oil and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes or until yeast starts to foam. Add salt, beaten egg and 3 cups of flour. Using dough hook, knead dough on medium high speed for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding additional flour if needed. Turn dough into a greased bowl, cover with a warm damp towel and set in a warm draft free space for 45-60 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size. Punch down dough and divide into 18 pieces. Keep covered and set aside.

Meanwhile, remove meat from refrigerator and divide into 18 pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape, about 4” long. Set aside.

Line three cookie sheets parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

For each worstenbroodje, roll out a piece of the dough into a rectangle, about 5”X3”. Place one piece of meat in center of dough. Fold ends of dough over the meat and wrap, pinching the seam closed. Place worstenbroodjes, seam side down, on cookie sheets. Brush each one lightly with beaten egg, if desired. Let the worstenbroodjes rise in a warm area for about 20 minutes, while oven is pre-heating to 350 degrees F.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Leftover worstenbroodjes can be eaten cold, or reheated. If you dip them in ketchup, please don’t tell me about it. If you find it necessary to jazz up the meat by adding garlic, onions or other spices, be my guest. Just don’t tell me about it. Feel free to use a little mustard-- that you can tell me about.

The dough gets nice and crispy on the bottom...that's the best part!

Coffee Can Pumpkin Bread

Don’t you hate it when someone won’t share a recipe with you? What is with the secrecy? I understand if it’s a national treasure like Kentucky Fried Chicken. But really, what is the purpose of secretly guarding a recipe (unless of course it’s your own creation and it is awaiting entry into a contest)? I don’t get it.

Back in the ‘70’s, my sister had a neighbor who made a very nice loaf of pumpkin bread. It was more than nice. This was fantastic pumpkin bread. Plus, it was round! How did it get that way? So, my sister begged him for the recipe. “No, no!” he said, “It is a secret. I swore never to divulge the ingredients.” Well, then, that was a challenge for me, and it didn’t take me too long to get the recipe out of him. Of course, I had to swear never to divulge the ingredients…..especially to my sister!

Flash forward to the year 2002 when I discovered the world of online recipe websites. There were hundreds and hundreds of recipes, just ripe for the picking. The premier site, at that time, was allrecipes.com. Funny how a simple search lead me right to the same recipe I had been guarding all of those years. Someone had already let the cat out of the bag! I guess that gave me the permission I needed to share this really wonderful recipe. The cool thing about it—and this was different from the online recipe I found—is that this recipe is made in a coffee can! This is very cool if you want to wrap it up and use it as a nice gift.

Coffee Can Pumpkin Bread
Printable Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
• 1 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon mace
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 1/2 cups flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease and flour 4 (1 lb) coffee cans (you may substitute 3 foil loaf pans or 6 mini-loaf pans)

3. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.

4. Divide the batter between the 4 coffee cans.

5. Bake for 1 hour or until the tops spring back when touched.

6. Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes before removing from cans.

They make great gifts. Just wrap them in some cellophane, tie a ribbon around the top, and voilà! Instant gift!

Oh, and by the way, you have my permission to share the recipe!

Butterscotch Apple Frangipane Tart

As many of you are aware, I have become a cooking contest freak as of late. This foray into contesting actually started many years ago, when I first became a fan of The Pillsbury Bake-Off®. This mother of all cooking contests started back in 1949 and has been celebrating home cooks ever since. In fact, I’m pretty sure everyone has a favorite Bake-Off® recipe. Remember the Tunnel of Fudge Cake? Well, Ella Rita Helfrich won $5000 with that recipe back in 1966 and kicked off a Bundt Pan revolution. And, what about those Peanut Blossoms? You know—the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss on top. Nearly everyone has those on their holiday cookie list. That recipe came from Freda Smith, Bake-Off® 1957. Oh, how I yearned to have a recipe selected for the Pillsbury Bake-Off®--especially since the grand prize is now a cool million dollars! Well, guess what? I am officially a finalist in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off® being held in Orlando, Florida in April 2010! Indeed, my Pecan Cookie Waffles with Honey-Cinnamon Butter is a contender for the million dollar prize! I am very honored and, since the details of this recipe are being held in strict confidence, I won’t share the recipe yet, but I will share the results of one of my other creations using the fabulous Pillsbury® Pie Crust---Butterscotch Apple Frangipane Tart.

I suffer from occasional insomnia. What do you do when you can't sleep at 3:30 in the morning?

Well, sometimes I pull out some ingredients and bake! Ha--I told you I was a freak. This time I put together a tart. Here is my recipe:

Butterscotch Apple Frangipane Tart

1 Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crust (from 15-oz box), softened as directed on box

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup almond paste
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup flour
2 large, tart baking apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
½ cup butterscotch ice cream topping
½ teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 ° F.

2. Place the butter and almond paste (break the paste into small pieces) and sugar in a large bowl; cream them together with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat until light and creamy. Fold in the vanilla and the flour.

3. Fit the pie crust into a 9” tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim the excess dough. Spread the almond filling over the bottom of the crust, covering it completely. Arrange apples in concentric circles on top of the filling.

4. Mix the cinnamon into the butterscotch topping and spread the topping evenly over the top of the apples. Place the tart into the preheated oven and bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until the apples are golden and the filling is set. Cool to room temperature before serving. Serves 6-8.

Oh--you can check out the whole list of 100 Bake-Off® Finalists right here: 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off® Finalists