No 25 - Friesland Dumkes

I've been away from home for three weeks.  While I've been away we've finally reached the top of the Council's list for an allotment, I did some motorbike touring in Nederlands, and I attended a course on Managing Maritime Emergencies at the Smit (salvage) facilities in Rotterdam.  Great course - I recommend it to anyone in a relevant industry.

I met some really great people, and had a fairly comprehensive look at Rotterdam.  I'll reserve my comments on Rotterdam as my impressions were unfairly blighted by rain quite a bit of the time.  Touring in the rain - particularly on a motorbike - doesn't have a lot to recommend it.

Before the course we spent a weekend in the north to go to the World Superbike racing at Assen.  Assen is a lively place, great Saturday market, nice outdoor bars, good mix of the old and the new.  In fact we arrived the day they opened their 'arts' complex - theatres, library etc.  Interesting installation on the steps outside - pillars with some sort of proximity trigger that makes them light up and make surreal sounds when you get close to them.

We stayed in Appelsha.  Like most establishments in Continental Europe when they serve you tea or coffee you get a little biscuit on the side.  Nowhere in Nederlands that week did I get one of those per-packaged factory models of biscuit.  They were all the 'specialty' of the house.  Commendable.  I fell in love with the Dumkes that accompanied that first much needed cup of tea on arrival at Appelsha.

So I looked up Freisland Dumkes on the internet and this is what I got:  (the ones I've made taste great, but I might have been a bit more generous with the size than the 'dunkers' that were served with tea)

Freisland Dumkes (thumbs)

150 g butter
150 g dark brown sugar
 2 eggs
250 g flour (sifted) with a pinch of salt
100 g hazelnuts (chopped finely)
1 tsp anise seed - crushed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Heat the oven to 150 deg C.  Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time untiil foamy.  Sift in the flour and add the nuts and spices.  Knead the dough until smooth, roll it out about 1cm thick, cut into strips 2cm x 4cm and bake on a greased (or teflon) sheet until browned.

I think you are meant to press them with your thumb when they come out of the oven - to make a thumb impression, but I skipped that step.  I'm sure they taste the same without the markings - and as I have been struggling all this weekend to dig buttercups and docks out of a waterlogged allotment, my hands are looking a bit stained at the moment (which might have added unwanted flavour to the Dumkes).

I'm about to go and do a second lot of baking today.  My motorbike had been in need of a carbs rebuild, a job which has been sorted out beautifully this week by the hardworking and extremely decent blokes at Chas Bikes in London.  The least I can do I drop off some sultana biscuits on my way back into London on Tuesday morning.  My gratitude is immense.  The bike still perfomed acceptably at speed but the effort of nursing it through towns and filtering at lower speeds was really beginning the wear me down last week.