Peperkoek/Ontbijtkoek (Gingerbread)
Ontbijtkoek is literally breakfast cake and eaten at breakfast spread with butter. Ontbijtkoek/kruidkoek/peperkoek are names used interchangeably and each family has their preferred name. I have named this plainer recipe Ontbijtkoek and the peperkoek recipe is the richer version made with more honey and rye flour.
Equipment
- Square profile loaf tin with lid or otherwise a standard loaf tin with foil to cover. You may need to scale up these ingredients to suit your loaf tin. My square profile tin uses 50% more batter than the quantities show here.
- Baking paper to line the loaf tin.
Ingredients
- 100 ml Water
- 30 g Honey
- 2 Tbsp Peperkoek spice or Speculaas spice mix
- 2 Eggs
- 250 g Dark brown sugar
- 3 tsp Baking powder
- 250 g Self-raising flour
- Butter to grease the loaf tin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (170ºC fan oven) and grease a loaf tin with butter – especially the 4 corners and line with baking paper. This is essential for lifting out after baking.
- Combine the water, honey, eggs, spices and brown sugar in a bowl. Add flour and mix thoroughly.
- Transfer the batter into the lined loaf tin. Fill to about half to no more than two-thirds as this will rise during baking. Cover with lid. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Test with a skewer
- Transfer to a cooling rack then wrap in foil to get the typical sticky edge. Wait 5 days before starting to eat.
- Slice and spread with real butter
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!