Forget the oliebol, this year we eat kniepertjes
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: This year we eat kniepertjes for New Year's Eve.
If you've ever been to Drenthe, Groningen, the Achterhoek, or Twente, then you're definitely familiar with them: knieperties. The name of the thin cookie sounds not only hilarious, but it's also very tasty. Why don't we see these divine cookies everywhere? We say: more knieperties!
Knieperwatte?
Knieperties! A kind of stroopwafel without syrup, but with a delicious vanilla flavor. This thin, hard sweet wafer has many names. In Drenthe, they are called kniepertie or iezerkoekie, in Groningen kniepertjes, and in Twente knieperkes. They are very simple to make: the recipe consists of butter, sugar, flour, water, egg, and vanilla sugar. In the past, they were baked in a knijpijzer – vandaar de naam – which had to be held over the fireplace to warm up. Fortunately, nowadays an electric waffle iron suffices.
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Happy new kniepertie!
Knieperties are most commonly eaten in December. Traditionally, you eat the wafers flat in December and on New Year's Eve. From New Year's Day, you eat them as a roll, also known as a rollechie. In December, the whole year has unfolded, so the cookie is flat, and the new, still unknown year that you roll into is symbolized by the roll (often filled with whipped cream).
Besides the symbolism, making knieperties for New Year's is simply a lot more relaxing. Have you ever tried to make oliebollen? What a hassle! What a smell! Knieperties are easy to make, they contain few ingredients, and are hard to mess up. Moreover, they are much less fatty and heavy than oliebollen, and your house won't smell like frying as you enter the new year. It seems clear to us: this New Year's Eve, we are going to indulge in knieperties.
