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Beschuit met muisjes is a Dutch dessert made with circular crusty bread called beschuit and tiny, colorful balls called muisjes made of anise seeds covered in sugar. It is traditionally eaten to celebrate the birth of a child, with pink and white for a girl and blue and white for a boy. The custom dates back to the late 1800s and beschuit is a Dutch breakfast staple often eaten as a snack. The candy-coated aniseed grains used for beschuit met muisjes are a special type of hagelslag.
Beschuit met muisjes is a Dutch dessert traditionally eaten by family and friends to celebrate the birth of a child. In English the name means “rusks with mice”. Beschuit, the rusk, is a unique Dutch circular crusty bread. Muisjes, or mice, are tiny, colorful balls made by covering anise seeds in a colorful sugar coating. To make Beschuit met muisjes, the crusty bread is spread with butter or margarine, then thickly sprinkled with pink and white muisjes to celebrate the birth of a girl, or blue and white for that of a boy.
The custom of serving Beschuit met muisjes to celebrate births probably dates back to the late 1800s. In the custom’s early days, the balls were only available in white. By the early 20th century pink had been introduced and it was customary to mix pink and white for the birth of a girl. Later blue became available.
Beschuit is a type of circular bread that is baked, sliced, then baked again. This draws almost all of the moisture away from the slices, making them crispy and crunchy. They were first introduced as provisions for ships in the days when food storage was a problem. Early types were very hard and dry and could only be eaten after soaking. In the 1700s he began making a more palatable version, using yeast, eggs, and butter to produce a softer, better-tasting beschuit that could be easily eaten.
The addition of eggs and butter made these new loaves a luxury item, suitable for use in celebrations. Beschuit is a Dutch breakfast staple today and is often eaten as a snack. They are often served topped with hagelslag or candy sprinkles, which come in many flavours.
The candy-coated aniseed grains used for beschuit met muisjes are a special type of hagelslag. They may have been called muisjes because the shape of the anise seed made them look a bit like mice. Many believe that anise seed drops were used to celebrate a newborn baby because anise was supposed to help a new mother produce more milk.
The ingredients of beschuit met muisjes are readily available in Dutch grocery stores and can be purchased from specialty retailers in other countries. The white and pink or white and blue varieties come premixed. Special orange muisjes have been used nationwide to celebrate the birth of a new member of the Dutch royal family. Orange is the Dutch national color, in honor of the royal family, the house of orange.
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