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.
- Whisk Hand mixer if making over double quantity.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 100 ml water
- 30 g honey
- 2 eggs
- 250 g dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp peperkoek spice or speculaas spice mix
Dry Ingredients
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 250 g self-raising flour
Baking
- 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.
Mix the wet ingredients
- whisk the eggs in bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients: water, honey, eggs, spices and brown sugar in a pan.
- Heat gently and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Do not overheat.
Assemble
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl
- Add the wet ingredients from the pan and mix well. If using a hand mixer, mix slowly and only until everything is combined. Over mixing is not good for the batter.
Baking
- Transfer the batter into the lined loaf tin. Fill 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 which should come out clean
- Leave to cool for 15 minutes before lifting out the peperkoek. Peel off the baking paper. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Wrap in foil to get the typical sticky edge. Wait 5 days before starting to eat.
Serve
- Slice and spread with real butter
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!