KKK: Koffie, Kruidkoek,en Keane

Somethings you keep a secret and some things you just have to share! So I was eating a slice of kruidkoek with my coffee this afternoon, and I decided that this must be shared. At the end of my last visit in Holland, my oma quickly biked to the bakery to get me some packages of speculaaskruiden, so that at any time I could make my own pepernoten or kruidkoek. I am not baking very much, usually because if I make it, I will be most likely to eat it which does not help my goal of keeping my waistline in check, but today was an exception.

Anyways to prepare a kruidkoek in your English kitchen (which uses cups, hence English) you proceed as follows:

Mix 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2.5 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 tablespoon of koekkruiden. Subsequently add 200 mL of milk and 1 egg. Mix well, note that a mixer may not be so handy in this case. You bake this in a loaf pan at about 305F for approximately 45 minutes, although you might want to keep an eye on the time. Being raisinless is a condition I am known to have, so I did not add raisins this time. But to make the loaf a little bit more moist and awesome I would add approximately 1 cup of raisins which have been soaked in water for a while (make sure you drain them before you add them to the dough right before baking). Et voila.

Now I know not everyone has a grandmother who visits the local bakery to obtain the key ingredient for you, but as with anything in life after your grandmother the internets know best! So the mixture should include cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper, ground cardamom, ginger of sorts. This blogger offers some recipes. So, if you want to try, I say don't delay, start today. Interestingly, I had thought about that line to end a cover letter: "don't delay, call today!" but I may be considered a bit of a chicken.

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Even though I have a disappointingly low number of friends in Ottawa who are Senators fans - I don't mind celebrating on my own. Now that win last night was something boys, quite something!

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Today I also remembered how much I love Keane, and almost all of their songs.

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OFFICIAL COUNTDOWN to the 2010 World Cup: 70 days.

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The updated FIFA ranking has also been released today, and the Netherlands continue to occupy the #3 spot. Whoot! Ole, Ole! Can I get a what, what!

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Keane - Bedshaped