December’s Daring Bakers challenge was Dutch ontbijtkoek which means “breakfast cake.” Considering how busy December was, I’m really glad this was not a terribly difficult thing to bake.

For the month of December, Andrea from 4pure took us on a trip to the Netherlands. She challenged us to take our taste buds on a joyride through the land of sugar and spice by baking three different types of Dutch sweet bread

I went with Andrea’s kruidkoek (“spice cake”) recipe, mostly because I had plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg on hand. I have to say it was delicious, a bit dry (but from what I remember from my time in the Netherlands, the store-bought version was considerably more dry, so this was downright moist by comparison) but aromatic and just the right level of sweetness. It made breakfast fun for a few days.

Pics after the jump.

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A gorgeous golden brown. Of course I didn’t wait too long before cutting into it, resulting in some smushed crumb.

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A day later – you get a better sense of the texture here.