The Bossche Bol – Dutch pastries, part 1

Today I’m starting a new series: Dutch pastries. I will present Dutch pastries from around the country. I’m hoping to discover more than just over-sweet heavy stuff. Maybe there will be some travel involved, I hope. The adventure of gebak begins with the Bossche Bol from Den Bosch.

The Bol is a big ball, see below, filled with whipped cream laying on top of a chewy cake, covered with dark chocolate.

The Bossche Bol comes from Den Bosch (short for ‘s Hertogenbosch, did you also know that the Hague – Den Haag, is short for ‘s Gravenhage, handy when you live here, confusing as a tourist!). Well before the 20th century, the baker Lambermont sold a kind of Bossche Bol with confectioner’s cream in Den Bosch. Then, in the 1920s, a baker from Den Haag set up shop in the same street as Lambermont and began selling Bossche bollen with whipped cream instead. Lambermont soon changed his recipe to include whipped cream. But then there is also the patisserie Jan de Groot claiming they invented the Bossche Bol in the 1930s or 1940s. A bit of a mystery! At least from the internet there doesn’t seem to be any Sacher tart type of conflict going on, but who knows? In any case, I got the pastry from Jan de Groot, see address below.

You can apparently buy Bossche Bol in Den Haag also,  but I was in Den Bosch for a workshop with work. Colleagues told me about this pastry, so I decided to try it out. We all afterwards went to the Jan de Groot patisserie to get Bossche Bollen after the workshop was finished.

And how did it taste? The Bossche Bol is just a bit too much: too much sweet cream, too much chocolate and why do they have to be so big? No, this was not for me. The hunt continues for balanced delicious Dutch pastry.