FoodBlogSwap: Gevulde Koeken

First of all: I am very sorry that I have been so inactive in the past month. I am very busy with my school work to finish my 3rd year. Finding the time to write posts has been a struggle so I decided to let it go.

Of course when I commit to do something, I make sure that it gets done. The FoodBlogSwap is something that I love to participate in and I am happy to write my post today.
I was excited to cook from Geur van Maillard. But this is a challenge because Paul, the owner, loves to eat meat. As you all know: I don't eat meat for almost 10 years now. Even so it wasn't hard to pick a recipe that was fun but still out of my comfort zone.

I choose to make Gevulde Koeken, a typical Dutch large cookie. It is a challenge because while I love to bake, I usually keep it more simple than this. I also loved Paul's post about his struggles to make them. But I still wanted to try it for myself. Just like Paul, I found the amount of almond paste too much and I only used half (I used the other half to make luxury Appelflappen (apple hand pies)). But more on that in another post. I urge you to use a good quality almond paste because the cheaper brands add white beans to the mixture. I got mine from a local windmill who sells all kinds of flour and baking goods. The amount I used is already adjusted in the recipe.

Gevulde koeken: (makes 8)
- 500 gr flour
- 300 gr butter (the rich kind)
- 200 gr white castor sugar
- 3 eggs
- salt
- 200 gr almond paste
- almonds for decoration (optional, here they get plucked off, so I didn't use them)

Add flour, butter, sugar and 2 eggs to a bowl. Knead this into a dough. Leave it in the fridge for a while to rest.

Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees. Roll the dough until it is about half a cm thick. Stick 16 rounds from the dough. I used a glass for 8 smaller rounds and a mug for 8 slightly bigger rounds.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lay the 8 smaller rounds (or in case of a smaller oven like us 4, and bake it in 2 batches) on the paper. Divide the almond paste over the dough, leaving the edges clean. Place the bigger rounds over the smaller ones and press closed with a fork.
Beat the last egg and add a thin layer of egg wash on top of each cookie (which we obviously forgot).
Press 3 almonds in each cookie. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

I loved to make these and they tasted good! Still I am not sure if it is worth the trouble to make them again. This is mainly because the almond paste is expensive and it is just easier to get them from a good bakery. Still it was fun to do and not as hard as I thought :)

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