Dutch pastries, part 2
For work I went to Arnhem and that was a golden opportunity to continue my series about Dutch pastries.
Arnhem is a city in the east of the Netherlands.
It’s a quiet little town (could also have something to do with, that it’s August – vacation month here), with your typical Dutch main shopping streets and some cute churches. I arrived by train (took 1 hour and 50 min from Zuid-Holland, which was faster than I expected).
The speciality from Arnhem are the cookies Arnhemse Meisjes (Arnhemian/Arnhemese? girls or rather maybe Girls from Arnhem). According to the leaflet (which is rather entertainingly written) that accompanied the packaging, the Arnhemse Meisjes were created in 1829 by the baker Hagdorn from a leavened dough in the shape of a shoe sole, sprinkled with a lot of sugar. These cookies were an instant success. Fatter Meisjes popped up over the rest of the country, an imitation because another kind of dough was used. Arnhemse Meisjes in bronze are also given away to great citizens by the muncipality of Arnhem. But the ones I bought, are the only real Arnhemse Meisjes (De enige echte).
This cookie is really really good. My boyfriend and I had to contain ourselves so as to not finish the entire package. It’s crispy and sweet, it reminds me of a fudge cookie that my greataunt used to bake a lot (Kolakakor). I’ll definitely have this again if I’m in Arnhem. Where to next?
