Poffertjes Recipe (tiny Dutch pancakes)

From my Oma
2 ¼ cups flour
10 grams yeast (7 grams is one yeast packet)
1 ¼ cups warm milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ tsp. salt
butter for frying
*a poffertjes pan is required!

“Poff-er-chuz” Heat the milk until lukewarm. Mix the salt with the flour and make a well in the middle. Mix the yeast with a little lukewarm milk and let sit for five minutes. Then pour yeast mixture into the well, followed by most of the rest of the milk and the eggs. Stir to a thick, smooth batter. Add the rest of the lukewarm milk and vanilla and keep stirring. Cover the batter with a dampened cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for ½ hour to an hour.

Grease a special poffertjes pan with butter and heat over medium-high heat. Fill each of the wells of the pan just over half way with some of the batter and fry on both sides until golden brown. Squeeze bottles are wonderful for filling the wells without too much mess.

Serve with butter and powdered sugar, or jam, or syrup, or plain, or with chocolate syrup or anything you can think of that sounds delicious.

Where to get a poffertjes pan
(Available in cast iron or teflon - I recommend cast iron)

Dutch Epicure Shop:
http://dutchepicureshop.stores.yahoo.net/cairpopan.html

Little Dutch Girl Shop:
http://www.littledutchgirl.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2835

Dutch Connection Imports:
http://www.dcimports.com/kooppofpanho.html

Ebay: (search for poffertjes pan or ebelskiver pan)
http://www.ebay.com

You can also use a Danish Ebelskiver pan
Williams Sonoma:
http://www.amazon.com/Ebelskiver-Filled-Pancake-Pan-Williams-Sonoma-WS/dp/B001CJ7Y70

photo by Hans Dankers. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Spreekwoorden

Ze kennen mekaar met een warme pannekoek belopen.
They live within a warm pancake's walk

Spreekworden (sprayk-worden) are Dutch proverbs. These sayings pepper daily conversation and some unique saying exists for almost any occasion. Food is both a physical and a metaphoric palette of culture - reflecting adaptations and hybrids of old traditions and new ingredients. For this reason, many of the hundreds of Dutch proverbs, are food-related. These sayings convey layers of Dutch cultural attitudes about everything from marriage to religion to human nature. Spreekworden reflect the experience of Dutch culture and the texture of daily life while registering opinion on the topic at hand. The pancake proverb above reflects both the common consumption of pancakes as well as the close proximity in which the people of the Netherlands live.