Welcome to Koek & Cake

My personal blog 'Koek & Cake' is all about home-baked cookies, cakes, bars and more...
The American name for cookie is derived from the Dutch word koek or (informal) koekje, which means little cake and arrived in American English through the Dutch immigrants in North America. Now that I'm settling in Austin, Texas. History repeats itself. Koek is brought to the USA,
one cookie a
t a t
ime.


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The history of muffins

Lemon-Raspberry muffin
Every muffin lover knows the muffin was originated in England to be served at tea time. English muffin history dates all the way back to the 10th and 11th centuries in Wales. Early English muffins were cooked in muffin rings which were hooplike and placed directly on a stove or the bottom of a skillet. Muffin recipes first began to appear in print in the mid 18th century and quickly caught on. By the 19th century muffin men walked the streets of England at tea time to sell there muffins. They wore trays of English muffins on there heads and rang there bells to call customers to there wares.

Although the muffin is originated in England, the muffin as we know it today has been developed in the USA, after pearlash was discovered. Pearlash is a refined form of potash, and it produces carbon dioxide gas in dough. Baking powder was not developed commercially until 1857. In 'American Cookery' (1796 - the first American cook book) Amelia Simmons published recipes using pearlash and it was than that some 8,000 tons was exported to Europe.

There is a variety of muffin recipes available: Sweet, Savory, Whole wheat, Flour. 
I personally like the fruit muffins and have been experimenting with different crumble toppings. 
Blueberry muffin

                                                      


My experience is that a crumble with unsalted butter and light brown cane sugar works best. The butter needs to be cold and crumbled real fine to prevent the crumble from sinking to the bottom.

French toast is eaten all over the world!!

French toast is eaten all over the world and cooked in different varieties. In the US French toast might be a fancy breakfast dish, in the Netherlands it is made from stale bread leftovers. A great way to assure bread doesn't have to be thrown out.

The bread is mixed with eggs, milk and a mix of sugar and cinnamon, after which it is fried in butter to become a "Wentelteefje". The etymology is unclear but it is believed to refer to the Dutch verb wentelen = "to turn over".

Wentelteefje

A little bit of the history according to Wikipedia
The earliest official mention of French toast is in the Apicius, a collection of Latin recipes dating back to the 4th or 5th century. The Brothers Grimm mention it as Arme Ritter in the Deutsches Wörterbuch, quoting from the Buch von guter Spyse, which dates back to the 14th century. Another early mention is in the time of the reign of Henry V, when it was known as pain perdu in England. Pain perdu means "lost bread"; stale bread that might have otherwise been thrown away could be used for this dish.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites usages of "French toast" in a book called The Accomplisht Cook in 1660, which listed a recipe for French toast (toasted bread with wine, orange juice, and sugar). The Dictionary of American Food and Drink states the first egg-based recipe appeared in print in 1870.

All in all this breakfast dish has a long history and is eaten all over this world.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Update

'Koek & Cake' has new features including a photo gallery of some of my projects of the last couple of months. Check it out on the right hand side of the homepage.
 
Need a cake, cupcakes, cookies, bars .... for a special event 
or just because you feel like it (Austin,Tx). 
or
Is there a topic you would like me to write about?

Let me know!

Heavenly mud


'Heavenly mud'.....that might make you think of a pigs instead of a dessert, but things aren't always what they seem. Heavenly mud ('Hemelse modder') is the Dutch variety to Mousse au Chocolat.  

If you are in France, no matter which region, no matter where you eat, you will most likely be offered the divine French dessert Mousse au Chocolat. The word “mousse” is a French word that means foam. When mousse first hit the culinary scene in 1894 it was reserved for savory dishes like fish and vegetables. Then in the early 1900’s the famous French artist Toulouse Lautrec had the brilliant idea of mixing in chocolate to the graceful and airy invention. Doesn't everything taste better with chocolate.

You can find hundreds of different versions of the original recipe for this chocolate delight in cookbooks world wide. Some boast fancy ingredients like alcohol, peppermint, oranges or even marshmallows. In my opinion, the key to a great dessert is simplicity and the finest ingredients, such as dessert chocolate.

In this variety I leave out the eggs (as it is still over 100 degrees outside) and use whipped cream to create the foam. 


Hemelse modder

For chocolate lovers, check out: http://www.zchocolat.com

Monday, September 12, 2011

Graduation

Last weekend we had a graduation including cap and gown ceremony for our dog Lila. A great opportunity to explore how to decorate cookies.

Cookies for the trainer

I baked lemon sugar cookies that I glazed and than decorated. As I'm new to cookie decorating I have been surfing on the web and found this great website full with great ideas: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/. Sweet Sugar Belle uses royal icing to decorate her cookies. So far I have only used royal icing to decorate cakes and cupcakes. I'm looking forward to trying it out on cookies. Keep you posted!!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Back to school



















In the last half-century, peanut butter & jelly has become an American icon. In fact, the average American will have eaten 1,500 peanut butter and jelly (PB&J) sandwiches by the time they graduate high school! Now that it's the back to school season I decided to make Peanut Butter and Jelly bars, instead of the traditional sandwich ;-)

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

A little bit about the History of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Food historians do not know exactly when the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was first prepared, and there have been no advertisements or mentions of PB&J before the 1940s.

Peanut butter wasn't invented until 1890, and it became a hit at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. During the 1920s and 1930s, commercial brands of peanut butter such as Peter Pan and Skippy were introduced. Around the same time, pre-sliced bread became common in the U.S. However, there's no mention of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before the 1940s.It is known, however, that both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. Military ration menus in World War II, and some have suggested that the GIs added jelly to their peanut butter to make it taste better. It was an instant hit and returning GIs made peanut butter and jelly sales soar in the U.S.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Dutch apple pie

The Dutch don't let a birthday go by without a piece of apple pie (appelgebak, appeltaart). Recipes for Dutch apple pie go back centuries. There exists a painting from the Dutch Golden Age, dated 1626, featuring such a pie.
A family tradition in our home as well and my mom always takes the effort to bake them herself. I remember being a little girl helping her by cutting the apples in little pieces and mixing in the cinnamon and sugar. The dough on the other hand was always a secret to me.

Dutch Apple Pie
Now that I have moved far from my moms kitchen I felt the need to share a Dutch apple pie with my American family and friends. No more crumble topping, store bought crusts, but REAL Dutch apple pie. Last week, with the help of my friend Dana, I made 3 of them with a crust just like my mom makes.