Category: Friends

Maybe it’s because Bethany has gotten really in to the Pioneer Woman, or maybe it’s because I love a good competition, but this weekend found me creating a Dutch traditional dessert called Hollandse Appeltaart (AKA: Dutch apple tart). Our church has yearly contest for a special service we called “Turkey, Tarts, and Testimonies”. During the service we sing some traditional hymns, spend some time hearing from people and sharing testimonies, and at the end we enjoy pie and dessert together. But where my dessert comes in is that the men are to provide the pies, with no help from the women. So my friend Josh and myself got together and baked the night away on Saturday. In fact, we live streamed the entire thing and if you have about 3 hours of uninterrupted time, feel free to watch it here.

For some reason I only took one photo of our final tart, but I did take a few photos of the miniature one I made. I’ve placed it next to my iPhone to give you an idea of the size of this little guy.

The recipe called for some great ingredients including “currants” which are like a small black berry which we found out are regulated by the USDA in some parts of the U.S. Thankfully Sprouts had them in their “open stock” area and we weren’t missing any ingredients from the original recipe. Other ingredients included apples (of course), raisins, lemon zest, sugar, and cinnamon. We made the crust from hand as well, which included an egg and sugar baked in. Super tasty…

Here is our final submission. We were #33 and we took 2nd place in the fruit category for taste! The family cookbook recipe calls for the tart to “always be served with a dollop of whipping cream and strong coffee” (which might explain Bethany’s love for coffee…it’s in her blood!). Our tart was on a cake stand with a French press of Starbucks Christmas blend, along with cups and plenty of dollops for every judge. I even created a little card with the name of the tart and the Dutch flag for good measure. It’s hard to see, but the background of the card I have a drawing of some old Dutch ships, presumably bringing their culture to the States! Later in the evening one of the judges told me we actually placed 2nd in both taste and presentation, but they weren’t awarding any pies with double prizes, yet it’s good to know that it looked as good as it tasted.

And as they say, “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much” (and I’m Norwegian so I guess that’s saying something).