Kofieebroodje - let us start the 2014 Baking Partner's challenge with a Dutch Coffee Bun

Happy Makara Sankranthi to all my readers who are celebrating the festival. This is the harvest festival in India and recipes rich in ingredients newly harvested are prepared, shared and enjoyed. Well, are you wondering that you have never heard of a Kofieebroodje in any part of India during Sankranthi? Okay, this is not a Sankranthi dish, it is not even an Indian dish. This came from Amsterdam where one of our Baking Partners Kaveri resides. And since it is the 15th of the month, a good rule abiding baking partner that I am, I chose to post this recipe instead of my Sankranthi goodies today :-). I can hear some of you muttering that if I were any good blogger worth my salt, I would have planned this and brought timely Sankranthi recipes. So, until I can get my act together and get the Sankranthi recipes for this year, look at these previous year's posts here, here and here. There is plenty of harvesting going on in these posts already.

With that explained to everyone's satisfaction, now back to Kofieebroodje or the Dutch Coffee Buns. There were 2 choices this month, one for a tart apple pie and another for these coffee buns. Here we are in the first month of the new year and I was thinking of reducing/eliminating all processed food from my cooking and eat better, but then the lure of baking partners is too great to resist. So I let my resolve go down South a little bit but made it up by not eating too much myself but sharing it generously with people around me. I know, I know, it sounds so totally selfish but they didn't have any such resolutions and I was upfront in telling them that the delicious looking pastries had all purpose flour, butter and sugar. What can I say, I am a very honest gal and I didn't want to let go of my resolution so early in the year either, there are 350 and odd days to do it anyway.. :-)

As many of you already know, I am part of this fun group of home bakers called Baking Partners, Swathi who started this group very diligently reviews out suggestions and gives us a couple of shortlisted recipes every month. I picked the Dutch Coffee buns this time (since it sounded like the easier of the two :-)) called Kofieebroodje. They are like most of the pastries you get in bakeries but the best part is that they are not overly sugary but have just the right amount of sweetness and a little tang from the jam on top, the slightly flaky crust is made moist with the jam. I am told these are served as mid morning snacks over a cuppa when you meet up with neighbors/friends but you don't have to organize a 11AM meeting specially to consume them, they taste good any other time of the day also :-). The dough itself is very easy to work work, much like a 'less buttered up' cookie dough and is a novice baker (a.k.a me)'s dream come to true. You get to create something so professional looking and tasty without any fuss.

I made my first batch of Kofieebroodje a week or so ago. Since I have been experimenting quite a bit now a days, DD was rightfully apprehensive about trying a new dish when I offered her the warm buns the first time. She was in her room studying and I took one in a plate and as soon as she took a bite, the face exploded in a big smile and then came a hug and then after 30 seconds when all of that bun had gone inside came the request for 2 more and 'make it quick amma' she says! I had halved the original recipe since I didn't want to make too many of them but the dozen Kofieebroodje were gone before the Earth had twirled once around its base. So I made them again the second time and added some roasted and crushed almonds and experimented with an apple sauce layering for half the batch instead of the pudding. And the batch is looking thinner and smaller since the last 4 hours or so of making them :-). These stay well without dripping and being squishy, so they are perfect for a kids party or for taking over as a present for a host.

What do you need to make Kofieebroodje?
Recipe source: The Dutch Table
Makes about 12 Kofieebroodje
1.5 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Rapid rise/bread machine yeast
1/2 cup + 1Tblsp milk (lukewarm)
2 Tblsp sugar
1.5 Tblsp butter (at room temperature)
1/4 Tsp salt
1/4 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
1/2 Tsp Vanilla essence
8-10 almonds (I added this on my second batch, not in the original recipe but made a very favorable difference)
For the cream/custard:
I used single serve cups of vanilla pudding from the store. It took me 2 cups for this measurement
For the glaze on top: 
2 Tblsp Apricot jam (or any other favorite flovor)
couple of drops warm water (to loosen up the jam to a spreadable consistency)

How do you make Kofieebroodje? 

• Soak raisins in warm water for 15 minutes, once they plump up a little and soak up the water, drain the water and keep aside until ready to use.
• Toast almonds in microwave or stove top until toasty and pound/chop in to small pieces. Keep aside. 
• Mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a wide bowl. 
• Add butter and vanilla essence and mix it in homogeneously. 
• Add warm milk slowly to make a soft and pliant dough. 
• Knead for a couple of minutes to get the yeast going. 
• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let it rise in a warm corner of your kitchen counter. 
• When the dough doubles in volume (about 45 mins to an hour), punch it down and knead to a smooth ball. 
• Divide the dough into 2 and roll each ball into a rectangle of about 12inch X 12 inch. 
• Spread the pudding in a thin layer on top leaving 1/2 inch from the edges on all sides. 
• Sprinkle chopped nuts, soaked raisins.

• Roll the rectangle from one end to the other, closing the edges to prevent pudding from popping out too much. 

• Cut the roll into 5-6 pieces (depends on your preference for size), take each piece and set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When you put the pieces on the baking sheet, turn them to have one of the cut surfaces on top so it bakes beautifully with those concentric circles not getting smudged. 

• Cover and let them proof for 25-30 minutes. 
• Brush lightly with milk (gives that wonderful glow and golden hue), add a few more raisins on top if you like and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 25-28 minutes. 
• Mix the jam and a couple of drops of water and give it a good stir. 
• Take the baking sheet out of the oven, brush the jam all over the hot pastries. 

• Let cook and if you want give another coating of the jam once it cools down. 
• Serve warm or cold with or without coffee :-)

Notes: 

• The second time I made this, I used unsweetened apple sauce for half the batch instead of the pudding. It worked very well. 
• I added the nuts the second day (smarter me :-)) as I have said before I am nutty about nuts and find excuses to throw some in every opportunity I get. DD said they gave a nice crunchy bite. I used almonds but use any toasted nuts of your choice. 
• You can prepare custard or pudding at home and use it to layer, make sure the consistency is right so it spreads easily but doesn't run. 
• You can add any frosting of choice on top instead of the jam but I didn't want to make too many changes as I was posting the recipe as part of the group. 

This recipe comes to you from the Baking partners