Every time when we go to the Netherlands, I love going to a local bakery or grocery store with a bakery to get a “vlaai”. The ones where they put together a whole one with variety of different kinds of ”vlaai”. Unfortunately we have to wait months, sometimes years to get that opportunity to visit the Netherlands. So, in the meantime….I’m going to give myself this challenge to bake a few ”vlaaien” and see if I can bake a “Limburgse Vlaai”, just because I cannot buy them in a store here in the USA.
What is ”Limburgse Vlaai”
I hope I made you a little curious! When I tell people here in the US that I’m from the south of the Netherlands, a province called ”Limburg”, some of them may recall the ”Limburg Cheese”. Yes, that stinky cheese. I’m personally not fan of that one, but I AM a big fan of the ”Limburgse Vlaai”.
“Vlaai” is like a pie here in the US, but it can contain fruit, custard (“Banketbakkersroom”) or rice pudding. On top of the ”vlaai” can be a lattice made of the bottom crust, or a crumble, lots of whipped cream or shaved chocolate curls.
In case you get invited to a birthday party (mostly the older generation), you’ll get to choose from a variety of ”vlaai”. Hopefully there is a way you can try them all……or try to bake one of the ones below.
Limburgse Vlaai Challenge
It is February 18 , 2022 and over the next few weeks I am going to try the bake the following ”Limburgse Vlaaien” at home in the USA. I cannot just buy them here in a store and to find maybe a few ingredients here can be challenge too. We’ll see! Here we go! ”Vlaai” No 1:
1. Kruimelvlaai (Crumb pie with custard)
This was my favorite ”vlaai”, because it was simple and delicious. I always wanted to make it, even when I was in the Netherlands.
This “Vlaai” exists of 3 parts: the bread like crust, the custard pudding and the crumbs on top.
I found this recipe from Betsy’s Kitchen, because it uses ”banketbakkersroom” instead of custard pudding (see recipe below). Of course, if you have custard powder, you can make the pudding like that or even vanilla pudding if you don’t have time or not the other ingredients.
“Limburgse Kruimelvlaai” (Crumb pie with vanilla custard)
Ingredients
- 100 ml milk ½ cup
- 5 gram yeast half a package
- 200 gram flour 1 ¼ cup
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 15 gram butter 1 tbsp
For the Custard (or “Banketbakkersroom”)
- 750 ml milk 3 cups
- 150 gram sugar ¾ cup
- 3 sachets vanilla sugar or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp flour
For the Crumbs
- 150 gram flour 1 cup
- 100 gram sugar ½ cup
- 1 pinch salt
- 100 gram cold butter ½ cup
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
For the dough
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I used a Kitchen Aid, but you can use your hands too. Warm the milk up in a small pot until lukewarm. Stir in the yeast and set aside.
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Mix the salt and flour. Add the sugar, olive oil, egg yolk and butter. Slowly add the milk mixture and knead until it forms a dough ball. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm, non-draft area for about 30 minutes.
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Warm up the oven at 325 F (160 C). Grease a shallow pie pan and dust with some flour. Set aside.
For the Custard (or “Banketbakkersroom”):
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In a pot bring the 500 ml of the milk and sugar to a boil. Add the vanilla sugar sachets or extract.
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In another bowl mix the rest of the milk with the egg yolks and the flour.
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Add a few spoons from the boiling milk into the bowl of egg mixture. Mix and add slowly to the rest of the pot with milk. Keep stirring until the custard thickens. It should be a little thicker than pudding (mine was a little too soft and runny).
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Pour the custrad in a bowl, cover it with plastic, so no skin will form when it cools down. Set aside.
For the Crumbs:
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Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut in small pieces of butter and rub until small crumbs form.
Assemble of the pie:
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Roll out the dough on a flour dusted surface. It should be a little bigger than your pie pan. Cut off excess of the dough. Poke holes in the crust with a fork.
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Slowly pour the custard onto the crust and crumble the crumble on top.
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Put the pie in the oven for 25 minutes or until the crumbs start to slightly brown.
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Cool off and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
The recipe I used was too sweet for my taste, so I adjusted the amount of sugar in this “vlaai”.
Also the custard wasn’t thick enough. I was hoping it would set after the “vlaai” was baked. It was still a little runny. Next time I keep it on the stove a little longer!
In case you do have custard powder and you do not want to make the Banketbakkersroom, you can make it like this:
1 liter of milk
85 grams custard powder
150 grams sugar
2 egg yolks
Mix custard powder and sugar. Add a little bit milk and the egg yolk. Mix together. Bring the leftover milk to a boil in a pan. Add a little bit of hot milk in custard/egg yolk mixture, mix together and then add it all to the pan with hot milk. Keep your eyes on the pan and keep stirring the mixture till it’s boiling again. Take the pan off the heat right away and pour it out on a cold kitchen bench to cool down a bit. Then put it in a container and set it in the fridge to cool down completely.
2. Ski Vlaai
Especially around this time of the year (January/February) in the winter a lot of Dutch people are going on winter vacation. Skiing in Austria is a favorite sport and location. This “vlaai” looks like snow and ice on top. But the crazy thing is, that this ”vlaai” is made out of 7 layers. It is a little time consuming, but it is sooo good.
You can find the recipe right here! Happy winter, happy baking!
3. Abrikozen Linzen Vlaai
If this ”vlaai” is on the table of someones birthday in the Netherlands, it’ll be my first choice. I like the more tart, not so sweet pies.
I had to try this pie twice, because, well, the first was gone in a heartbeat, even though I wasn’t so pleased with it. I just bought a fun new white pie pan, but probably more for an apple pie. I used this flat metal pie pan, which worked way better.
“Linzendeeg”, what’s that?
The dough is a sweet dough, kind of a cookie dough and is easier to keep for longer in your fridge than yeast dough for other pies. ”Linzen” are Dutch for lentils, but they don’t have anything to do with the pie crust. It might come from the German ”Linzertorte”.
The filling
So, my first try with this pie, I only had apricots in a can. I’m usually not a fan of canned food, but this was an EMERGENCY! I blended the apricots in a blender and boiled the mix with some sugar over medium heat with a tbsp of cornstarch, so it would thicken. It worked very well. You can adjust the sweetness. The second try, I found apricot preserve at Aldi.
Abrikozen Linzen Vlaai
One of my favorite Limburgse Vlaai
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3 Cups all purpose flour
- 1½ Tsp baking powder
- 1 Pinch salt
- ¾ Cup sugar
- ⅔ Cup butter
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1 egg
For the filling
- 1 Jar apricot preserve
Topping
- 1 Tbsp sugar optional but traditional
- ¼ Cup powdered sugar optional
Instructions
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Grease the pie pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 390F.
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Sift the flour, baking powder, salt an sugar in a bowl. Mix
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Add the butter in pieces, the milk and egg. Knead with cool hands or in a mixer with dough attachment.
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Let the dough rest for about 1 hour in the fridge wrapped in plastic.
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Roll out ¾ of the dough, so it covers the pie pan. Cut off the excess.
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Roll out the other ¼ and the rest of the cut off pieces. Use a pizza cutter or knife to make strips (about 1 inch wide).
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Spread the apricot preserve out over the pie crust.
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Lay the dough strips over the preserve and push lightly to the bottom crust.
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Sprinkle sugar over the pie and bake the pie for 25 minutes. If you choose to use powdered sugar after the pie is baked.
4. Appeltaart
The Dutch Apple Pie (with Vanilla Ice Cream, please), is one of the most famous baked goods from the Netherlands. I have 3 different varieties for you to try. One is an apple crumble: very easy and quick and a hit at potlucks. Number 2 is a sweet apple pie, my favorite and number 3 is the traditional one, which you’ll normally get at a restaurant in the Netherlands.
Try them all and let me know what you think….
5. Kersenvlaai met slagroom
This was the first vlaai of the challenge to make typical “Limburgse Vlaai”. You can see at the picture below, I had to be quick about it. My husband was nicely sharing the ”Kersenvlaai” with people who he knew tasted it before in the Netherlands. I could save half of the vlaai, just in time to make a picture.
This recipe has been translated and adjusted from “Marielle in de Keuken”. As we know, we can not always buy these vlaaien in the USA (I had a pretty good one at ”Boonzaaijers Bakery” in Colorado Springs) and some ingredients are hard to find (like vanilla sugar).
Kersenvlaai met slagroom (Cherry Pie with Whipped Cream
This is one is very popular among family and friends here in the USA, who tried the original “Kersenvlaai” in the Netherlands. They said this was very close to the real deal!
Ingredients
Pie crust
- 1 ¾ Cup flour
- ⅝ Cup lukewarm milk
- ¼ Cup butter
- ¼ Cup sugar
- 1 Package yeast
- ½ Tsp salt
- 1 egg
Cherry filling
- 1 Jar Tart cherries in juice 700 gram
- ⅓ Cup sugar
- 1 Package vanilla sugar
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
Extra
- 1 Cup heavy cream
- 1 Tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
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Use the strainer to collect the cherry juice in a sauce pan. Keep the cherries in the strainer for now.
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Use a few spoonful of juice and mix this with the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Boil the rest of the juice in the sauce pan. Add the mixture in the sauce pan and let it slowly boil until the juice thickens.
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Add the cherries and warm them up for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
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Mix all the ingredients for the dough in the Kitchen Aid with a dough hook. Knead for about 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic and let it rise for about 1 hour.
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Preheat the oven to 390 F.
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Punch in the dough. Roll 2/3 of it out until it covers the pie pan. Grease the pie pan and lay the dough in the pan pan.
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Spread the cherry filling over the crust.
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Make dough strips or use a lattice maker to make the top of the pie.
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Brush the lattice with a little water and sprinkle sugar on top.
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Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting into it.
6. Rijstevlaai
A favorite at birthday parties. Here is the recipe!
7. Pruimevlaai
Coming Soon
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”.
Hi there I’m form Maastricht Limburg the Netherlands there is original no milk in anny vlaai and linzen is not… Read more »
Hi there, thank you for your comment. I have old “Limburgse” cooking books and old recipes online. They all call… Read more »