The Dutch Golden Age,  in Dutch: Gouden Eeuw , was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first section of the Golden Age is characterized by the Eighty Years’ War, which ended in 1648. The Golden Age continued in peacetime during the Dutch Republic until the end of the century.
After the Eighty years War (1568-1648) between the Dutch Republic and Spain, the Republic of the seven Dutch Provinces became independent and develop in all kinds of areas, like trade, science, social structure, religion and culture.
Trade
The Dutch are traditionally seafarers and keen map makers. Not only they traded grain and wood from East Europe, but they also went to Asia to get spices. Japan was very interested in books from the Dutch about scientific and industrial revolution from the west.
Culture
Because of the wealth that came with mainly the trading and traveling around the world, the Dutch came home with all kinds of new spices and ideas to show how wealthy they were.
Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, Candy and Wine (1620-1625) by Osias Beert
In the Dutch Golden Age, the meals of the middle class consisted of a rich variety of dishes.
The Dutch Empire enabled spices, sugar, and exotic fruits to be imported to the country. By the late 17th century, tea and coffee consumption were increasing and becoming part of everyday life. Tea was served with sweets, candy or marzipan and cookies. A rich Dutch mealtime of the time contained many extravagant dishes and drinks.
One famous recipe of the Golden Age
One of the few recipes of the Golden Age is (de schoenlapperstaart) or the “Shoe Shiners Pie”. Why this pie has this name, we don’t know, but the top looks a like a piece of leather!
Even though, this pie was made and eaten by the upper class people, it looks like a simple and boring pie for this wealthy period of time. Most of these families had beautiful houses in the country. They wanted to get away from the smelly city, smell fresh air instead and eat fresh foods from the country side. Here is a recipe for this simple, but healthy dessert pie.
Schoenlappers Taart
It is not as fancy as a traditional apple pie, but it is very nice with warm custard pudding drizzled over the tart or some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
- 5 apples
- 1/2 cup orange juice or water
- 3 tbsp butter
- 8 tbsp sugar
- 5 tbsp cinnamon or use “Speculaaskruiden”
- 1 tsp ginger powder or use “Speculaaskruiden”
- 1 roll Dutch Crisp Bakes/ Holland Toast available in local grocery store or Amazon
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup raisins
- powdered sugar
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
-
Peel the apples and cut them in small pieces. Cover the apple with the orange juice and boil them till their done for about 15 minutes. Maybe add a little water.
-
Mash the apples until it resembles a thicker kind of applesauce. Let cool!
-
Mix in the butter, sugar, cinnamon and ginger and crumble the Dutch Crisp Bakes on top of the batter.
-
Use only the egg yolks and the raisins to mix in with the batter.
-
Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Use a spatula to gentle mix the egg whites with the rest of the batter.
-
Grease a pie pan with a little butter or oil and pour in the batter. Bake for about 60 minutes on 400 F. Check at 50 minutes if it is getting too brow. If so, cover with aluminum foil.
-
Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar! Enjoy!
Painting
The Dutch Golden Age painting followed many of the tendencies that dominated Baroque art in other parts of Europe, such as Caravaggesque and naturalism, but was the leader in developing the subjects of still life, landscape, and genre painting. Portraiture was also popular.
Famous painters came out of this Golden Age. Rembrandt van Rhijn, Johannes Vermeer and Frans Hals.
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.