Moorkop is a Dutch pastry filled with vanilla cream and covered in a cocoa powder and fruit glaze. The name means “dark brown” and the pastry is thought to resemble a person’s head. It is made by mixing dough, adding a sweet filling, and covering it with a glaze. It is similar to the French profiterole but with the cream inside the pastry.
In Dutch cuisine, a moorkop is a sweet and creamy flaky pastry that contains vanilla cream inside and is glazed on top with a cream mixed with cocoa powder and pieces of fruit. The word moorkop means dark brown; Moor was a word used to describe black people, most notably in William Shakespeare’s Othello. The pastry is round and covered in dark chocolate, and was thought to resemble a person’s head, hence the unusual name.
Moorkop pastries can be bought ready-made in many bakeries in the Netherlands and around the world, or they can be made at home. To prepare this Dutch pastry, butter, water, sugar and salt are mixed together and heated for several minutes in a pan. The flour is gradually added to the pan and is mixed well with the sugar syrup until a smooth dough is obtained. The pan is removed from the heat and set aside. The eggs are beaten and then added to the dough.
The dough is kneaded well to achieve a smoother texture and is then greased all over with melted butter. The buttered dough is then divided into several balls. These sections of dough can be left spherical or slightly flattened. A hole or well is made in each of these balls of dough, which is then placed on a baking sheet and cooked for about 20 minutes. The cooked pastas are then removed from the oven and set out to cool.
The next step is to make the filling for the cakes. The sweet filling is obtained by mixing vanilla sugar with cream and butter and whipping the mixture until it is pleasant and fluffy. This whipped cream mix is then poured into the wells or holes left in the pastries for this very purpose.
The moorkop paste is then covered with a glaze made by mixing cocoa powder and cream. This gives the pastry its characteristic dark appearance. A slice of fruit is placed on top. Given the chocolate glaze, Moorkop Pastries will need to be refrigerated to keep them for any length of time. Moorkop pastry was likely inspired by the French pastry profiterole or chouz a la creme, but in those French desserts, the cream is sandwiched between two sections of pastry, not sandwiched inside the pastry.
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