Poffertjes - Part 1

While I was strolling with my sister in Brick Lane yesterday, we walked past a stall selling poffertjes. We tried them, and my sister liked them so much ("They're so yummy! Daddy, please can we get some?") that we decided to buy some. I'd seen something similar in Camden Lock market, and also in Westfield, but they'd always been overpriced. I think they were about £5 for eight! I have to admit, the poffertjes did look a bit bigger in those places, but not so big that they should cost that much. In Brick lane they cost £3 for fifteen, with 50p added for each additional topping. I thought that wasn't so bad.



At this point I should probably explain what poffertjes are. A lot of people think say they're, "mini pancakes," which is actually a pretty good explanation, except if you make mini pancakes, they aren't automatically called, "poffertjes" because they're small. What I'm trying to say is, poffertjes are a kind of small pancake, but not all small pancakes are poffertjes. Got it?

A poffertje is a kind of Dutch mini pancake, with a circumference about the size of a watch's face. Or the size of an old-style penny coin. They're puffy - in fact, the guy at the stall told me that, "poffertjes," literally translate to, "little puffs." The puffiness is because of little holes in the pancakes. They're traditionally made with buckwheat flour  and yeast, and cooked on a pan with little pofferje-shaped holes/ moulds. The batter is poured into the moulds and turned after a few minutes, once it's solidified.

We had to wait a while for the poffertjes to cook, and then the guy at the stall put them on a plate with butter and icing sugar - which don't count as a topping, seeing as everyone has that. Then we chose nutella as our topping, and strawberries as our additional topping. There were these little toothpicks that we were given to eat with, which I think is quite cute.

After eating a full pofferje each, my sister and I concluded that they were "AMAZING." My parents tried them too, and didn't seem to think they were amazing, but they liked them too and my dad suggested we make some when we got home. So we're going to make some pofferttjes today.