These crisp, sweet and buttery waffles are eaten on New Year’s Day, plain or filled with whipped cream.
Baking kniepertjes and rolls is a century old tradition in some parts of the Netherlands. This is a real team effort, the whole family comes together to make lots and lots of waffles (the abundance is important!) from a bucket of batter and a mount of dough balls with the help of a waffle iron, and rolling them up around the handles of wooden spoons or leaving them flat.
There are two versions of this cookie, a flat one and a rolled up one. The flat one is made with a dough and symbolizes the old year, which is already unfolded (called “kniepertje” in Dutch). The rolled up one is made with a batter and symbolizes the new year, which still holds its secrets. The recipe below is for the rolled up variety.
In the past, people used a waffle iron that was placed in the fire on the stovetop, but nowadays an electric waffle iron is mostly used (sometimes called ice-cone maker or oublie maker).
Some people like their kniepertjes and New Year’s rolls plain, just like they were eaten in the past. But most people eat them with lots of whipped cream. It is advised to give people a plate or a napkin or something like that when you serve the cream-filled rolls, because they tend to explode when you bite into them, leaving whipped cream and bits of cookie all over your shirt… If there are people out there that know how to eat a cream-filled New Year’s roll elegantly, please tell me how!
PrintDutch New Year’s Rolls – Nieuwjaarsrolletjes
Crisp, sweet and buttery cookies.
- Yield: 28-40 1x
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients
- 2/3 stick (75g) butter
- 1/2 cup (125 g) sugar
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) water
- 2 cups (250 g) flour
- grated peel of 1/2 lemon, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- neutral oil
- sweetened whipped cream, to serve
Instructions
- Put butter, sugar and water in a pan and place on a low heat.
- Leave until the butter is molten and the sugar has dissolved.
- Put flour in a large, heat-proof bowl.
- Add the hot butter-sugar-water mixture, the lemon or vanilla and the salt; mix well.
- Add the eggs and mix to a smooth batter.
- Leave to rest 30 minutes.
- Preheat the waffle iron and brush with a little oil.
- Scoop 1 tbsp of batter in the iron and close it.
- Cook until pale golden, how long this takes really depends on your iron.
- Take from the iron and roll directly (or leave flat if you prefer that).
- Repeat until you’ve used all the batter.
- Let the waffles/rolls cool completely before storing them in an airtight container (they keep about 2 weeks).
- Fill with whipped cream just before serving.
Notes
How much you can make depends on the size you make them. To make rolls, wrap small waffles around the handle of a wooden spoon, wrap large waffles around a rolling pin. Make lots, because the tradition dictates that you serve them generously to everyone (at least a few per person). And keep in mind that you always need more whipped cream than you think.
Where can I get the flat iron to make these new year cookies? when I was a kid we had a flat iron thing that looked like a big pliers, that we stuck in the wood furnace. But, I would like to get the electric one. Also what is it called?
In the Netherlands they are quite easy to find, especially in November/December; I bought mine in an appliance store. But I’m not sure where to find them abroad, it might be best to google around for a bit (I googled quickly and found some at amazon). They come under lots of different names, for example waffle cone iron/maker, ice cream cone maker/iron, krumkake maker/iron, oublie iron/maker, waffle maker…
In Dutch they are called oublie/wafel/kniepertjes/ijshoorntjes ijzer/maker (for Dutch/Dutch-speaking people that don’t know what to look for).
I still make the flat ones for my family every Christmas with the long handled iron on coals in my wood stove. I use on a old iron my mother brought from Holland about 90 years ago. Definitely a labor of love but such a treat for them. I would love to have an electric one which makes the very thin wafers I make in the fire. A waffle ice cream cone maker doesn’t work….makes them too thick.
What was the tradition behind them. I thought that my mom said you wanted to be the first to greet your neighbor with a tin of NY cookies. That doesn’t seem to make sense. any idea?