This video was made highlighting the cookies mentioned in the book, The Dutch
Girl by Donna Thorland. I was honored to be asked to collaborate on the recipe with her! After reading an advanced copy of The Dutch Girl, we came up with the receipt shown in the video and on Donna's website. Gema and I then put the receipt into action by creating the video with her husband, Shane.
Donna writes on her website, "While I was writing The Dutch
Girl I discovered that the 18th century Dutch were known for
their rich and inventive cuisine. The more I read about their cooking, the
hungrier I got. Many of the dishes we think of as distinctly American—cookies
and coleslaw, to name a few—have Dutch origins. The Dutch who settled the
Hudson River Valley, Manhattan, and the Jerseys, not only brought with them a
flair for using spices (a trade the Dutch dominated in that era) but they
eagerly adopted local ingredients into their cooking—fusion cuisine, 18th century
style!
When I ran across mention of koekjes—or cookies—flavored with cardamom
and orange flower water and stretched with the distinctly American addition of
corn meal, I knew I had to include them in the book. And I wanted to taste them
myself. I’m a huge fan of Kimberly Walters’s wonderful cook book, A Book of Cookery by a Lady, and I knew that if anyone
could bring these treats to life for a modern kitchen, she could! You can bake
step by step with Kimberly Walters and Gema Gonzalez in the video above,
shot on location at historic Gunston Hall. And if you don’t own a tin oven or a bake
kettle, fear not—baking times and temperatures for contemporary ovens can be
found below."
Featured in the video are Kimberly K. Walters, author of A Book of Cookery by a Lady, Gema Gonzalez, and Daniel. Filmed, produced, and edited by J. Shane Kippenhan. Written by Kimberly K. Walters.
