Kersenflapjes met slagroom

So, I tried one of these at the weekend. Ik ben erg druk met werk geweest, dus mijn vriend kocht me wat!

A kersenflapje is translated as a “cherry flap” and is often teamed with some whipped cream and has icing sugar dusted all over it. The pastry is light and crunchy, and when you bite into it the cherry jam and whipped cream spews out everywhere!

A very nice afternoon treat when your’re feeling peckish.

In light of this I thought I would list a few popular Dutch desserts! Very useful when you find yourself in the sweets section of a supermarket or a bakery - bakkerij - and are unsure of what to choose!

Appeltaart/appelkruimeltaart A type of vlaai*. This is an apple tart that comes in two varieties; lattice (taart) and crumble (kruimel). They both taste the same, and are flavoured with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, mace and powdered sugar. The two varieties only vary in texture (and the lattice variety can also include raisins at times!). Very cake-y and yummy (and my boyfriend’s favourite Dutch dessert!).

Slagroomtaart Cream cake! Ooey gooey cream cake. A cake/pastry base topped with lashings of whipped cream, normally with a layer of fruit or chocolate in the middle/on top. Also called “taart der taarten” which means “cake of cakes”!

Rijstevlaai This one is an interesting one. So, it looks like any other vlaai* where there is a pastry base with a creamy filling. This creamy filling is based on sweet rice pudding, and it is normally served cold.

Vla Vla is basically a custard-like dairy pudding that comes in all sorts of varieties, including chocolate, strawberry, banana and peach. You’ll see cartons of them lining supermarket shelves next to the milk and yoghurts.

Chocoladetaart Likened to a chocolate fudge cake, but I would liken its texture to be lighter and creamier, almost like a mousse with some varieties. Heerlijk, he?

Moorkop This is actually very similar to the Bossche bollen that I posted about a couple of weeks ago, The moorkop is a pastry that is basically a profiterole filled with whipped cream. It is partially glazed with dark or milk chocolate, with more whipped cream on top. The Bossche bollen is totally covered in chocolate, and without the extra cream on top.

Stroopwafel A firm favourite. This biscuit is essentially a cinammon-spiced caramel encapsulated between two wafer biscuits.

Drop Or in other words, licorice! You literally find these everywhere. ‘Drop’ comes in many different flavours and sizes, but basically there are two major types; salty licorice and sweet licorice. 2 kg is what the average Nederlander consumes per year!

Vlaai* This tends to be the blanket term for a lattice tart with a sweet filling. This also covers the crumble editions!