Hi Dorothea,
Thank you for taking the time to let us know. Much appreciated. And we love the addition of pecans too!

Happy baking from Holland,

Marieke & Ed

Hello Yang,
Thank you for liking the recipes so much. We do like to know what is going to be your ultimate favorite once you’ve tried them all :O.

Happy Holiday Baking!

Marieke

How wonderful to hear your husband knows our country. And I guess you are right that we are pretty lucky to have been born here. We live about 15km from Amsterdam. Hope you can visit some day soon too. If and when your husband is in Amsterdam and has some time, here’s a list of some good bakers and patisseries: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…kers-list/
And if I may add a suggestion for another Christmas recipe: These scones with the crunchy sugar topping are a big favorite over here: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…as-scones/
And over here Christmas is not Christmas without our ‘stollen’ (is a bit more elaborate but very much worth it): www.weekendbakery.com/posts…s-stollen/

Do you have a favorite Chinese holiday recipe?

Happy baking!

Marieke

Hi Yang,
It is still there: see under ‘before you start baking’. But it is as simple as you wrote. Just let them soak and you will see them taking on their original plump shape. This happens within a few days. Finding the dried cherries was also a big challenge for me here in Holland, but when I finally did it was just such a joyous moment, so naturally I want to use them a lot. In bread and cakes and also in muesli for example.

Keep up the very Happy Baking!

Greetings from our tiny country,

Marieke

Hi Yang,
It is so great to hear that the effect of the brownies is exactly the same, whether your husband or mine takes them to the workplace: big success! Have you ever heard of the brand Amaretto? It is the most famous almond liqueur there is I guess. Maybe the best chance to find it would be with that name in mind. We have a local Dutch distillery that also makes almond liqueur and many other flavors which are very nice to use in cooking and baking or just a splash in your hot cocoa. Maybe there’s also a local Chinese alternative that would work well.
But I think your alternative also sounds pretty good!

Marieke

Thank you too and let us know how the cherries and recipe turn out!

Hi Susan,
Thank you very much. They are indeed dried cherries but as you can read in the recipe they are steeped in almond liqueur (or amaretto as a lot of people would say) and during these 3 to 4 days they make this wonderful transformation from crinkly dry to lovely plump and juicy again. The flavors of the cherries and the almond liqueur blend together perfectly. Next to the cherries you can also use the liqueur they swim in for other recipes of course.

I have pieces of dried apricots soaking in almond liqueur, dried cherries in rum and golden raisins in orange liqueur, the possibilities are as many as there are dried fruits of course.
I also use the fruits in this cardamom cake recipe: www.weekendbakery.com/posts…some-cake/
It is my favorite winter cake to bake.

Happy Holidays and Happy Baking to you,

Marieke