COMING FRESH FROM THE OVEN : WALNUT-TOPPED ONBITJKOEK!

One fine Sunday morning and I happened to find some left-over walnuts, palm sugar, and spekoek spices.

Voila! Here goes the classic, home-made Onbitjkoek. 

"An ontbijtkoek (literally translated breakfast cake) or peperkoek is a Dutch-Belgian spiced cake. Rye is its most important ingredient, coloring the cake a light brown. It is often spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, succade and nutmeg. Several parts of the Netherlands have their own local recipe, of which the most famous is "Oudewijvenkoek" (old wives' cake) which is mostly eaten in the northern regions, and is flavored with aniseed. Ontbijtkoek is originally served at breakfast with a thick layer of butter on top, as a replacement for bread. However due to its sweet taste it is also served as a snack.

Originally called 'peperkoek' it was made from breadcrumbs and other left over bakery products stored in an attic.These ingredients were periodically collected and pressed to create the 'peperkoek' which was augmented with black pepper to conceal the age of the resulting thick bread, hence its name. Pepper being historically one of the most valuable Dutch East India Company trading products, it was used in many Dutch food products. "

This cake makes such an awesome breakfast and teatime companion, I tell you. 

Here is the worth-trying recipe : 

ingredients:

2 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup palm sugar (you can use brown sugar, alternatively)
1 cup milk

1 mixture of Spekoek spices, consisting of : 

1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 pinch salt

directions:

Combine all the ingredients to a smooth paste. Butter a rectangular 8" x 3" cake tin, fill with dough and bake about one hour in a slow oven (300 degrees F). When cooked, allow to cool and keep in a tin or in the bread-bin for 24 hour before serving. 

This cake keep moist when put in the bread-bin with the bread. The Dutch serve it with their "elevenses", buttered or on a slice of bread for breakfast.

ps : as for me, i'd love to sprinkle some roasted walnuts on the top of the dough before baking it. makes such a fine aroma to it. 

recipe source :http://www.cdkitchen.com  

and here is the final result! :)