Finding Cake supplies in Eindhoven

Watermolens (water mills) here in the Netherlands are both places to purchase baking supplies and at the same time, pet stores. Intuitively it makes sense, when you consider the grain is processed by the mill, powered by the river water. Flour is created, and grain for animals created, all with large stone grinders. When I first heard of this I thought it was strange but now it seems normal. Without my favorite Michaels around, I have to get my Wilton cake supplies fix somewhere, and De Dommelsche Watermolen is the place!

Located just south of Valkenswaard, (take N69 south, and turn right onto N397, you'll see it after a small river, on your left side).

De Dommelsche Watermolen‎

Bergstraat 1

5551 AW Valkenswaard, Netherlands

 

In the background you see the different types of flours available. Zeeuwse bloem here is 1.50 instead of 1.25(at Genneper Park Watermolen). Check out all that Wilton stuff! And even Crisco- (4 euro for a tiny can). They have fondant, marzipan, gum paste, and everything you need to shape the stuff. Cookie cutters galore, cake pans, sprinkles, etc- it is all there. They even have chocolate chips made from Callebaut chocolate (you can also find them at Genneper Park, and I think the price is a bit cheaper there).

I was excited to find some special carousel candles for Dina's upcoming 3rd birthday. It is difficult to find carousel themed items and it looks like on Wilton.com, that this particular product has been discontinued, so I feel extra lucky to have scored these! They even had the carousel cake creator (for only 35 euro- it is $25 in the US! Love that EU tax! It is a stand, plastic horses that can support the shaped top made of plastic which you are supposed to cover with fondant)... but I felt like it wasn't for me. I feel the need to make the entire cake structure edible. Obviously, I'll have to use supports that are not-edible, but I don't want a fondant-covered plastic thing on the cake. At this point I'm making sketches and test-cakes (husband is happy with that) and so we'll see how it goes!

American Brownies in the Netherlands

For those of you reading back home in the USA, I'm sure you are all set with your Ghiradelli boxed brownie mix at your local grocery store. But for those of us craving a quick and easy dessert here in Eindhoven, we're in luck! The Genneper Park Molen (Watermill) has brownie mix! And chocolate chips! And mini chocolate chips!

Above, on the top shelf, you can see the chocolate chips. They have semi-sweet (puur), milk, and white chocolate and it is Callebaut chocolate. You can't get any better than that.

 Here on the top shelf is the "American Brownies" mix. It is a 1kg bag, containing sugar, flour, oil, cocoa, milk, starch, glucose syrup, potato starch, salt, rice flour and flavoring. You get two batches of brownies from one bag and it costs 4.50 euros.

Wait! Don't make the recipe listed on the bag! For crying out loud, it calls for raisins!! In brownies? Ick! After some experimenting, here is the way to make brownies as good as Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker boxed mixes. Can't say that they are as good as a Ghiradelli boxed mix, but I'm still working on it. The total time to make these is about 30 minutes start to finish. A mere 7 minutes to mix the ingredients and 23 minutes to cook the brownies. Totally my go-to dessert when I forgot someone was coming over... oh! hi! I was just about to put some brownies in the oven! Give me 5 minutes and I'll bring you a cup of tea while they bake!

American Brownies in the Netherlands
500g "American Brownies" mix from Genneper Park Molen (remember, HALF the bag!)
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil - 125ml (you can even use olive oil but NOT extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 cup water - 125ml
130g mini chocolate chips - a couple of handfuls if you're in a hurry

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (UPDATE: sorry I didn't mention it before for my friends here that is 176 degrees C). Mix egg, oil, and water in a bowl. Add the brownie mix and mix for less than 30 strokes. Add the chips and mix until just combined. Pour into a greased 9x13" baking dish. Bake for 23 minutes (more or less depending on how accurate your oven is). Toothpick test should show a crumb or two, or almost clean.

If you are feeling Dutch, you can add Speculous Pasta(paste). If you've never heard of it, I have to tell you: it is one of the best products ever made. Tastes like liquid cookie and my friends in Rochester can now get it at Wegmans! You guys, check it out!! The best way to add it is to drop teaspoon-fulls onto the unbaked brownies, and swirl it in before baking.  Rochesterians, you can try this with your boxed brownie mixes! My dear sweet husband only lets me do half because he is a purest when it comes to brownies.

Chocolate and where to find it

Every time we visited Europe before we moved here we would hit a chocolate shop or two. Or ten. We'd been to chocolate shops in Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy. By far my favorite memories are of chocolate from Switzerland (Heine in Luzern) or France. Don't get me wrong, Parkleigh (mere steps from where I used to live in Rochester, NY) had some very tasty bon-bons from Ghiradelli in California. It is also tough to refuse a truffle from Godiva. However, my favorite American chocolate used to be Scharffen Berger or Valrhona and when I lived in the USA I used to seek out Callebaut, which is made in Belgium.

So, just imagine my anticipation of actually living in Europe, steps away from European chocolate shops. My mouth watered the entire plane ride over. When we spotted our first glimpse of one, in downtown Eindhoven, we bolted to buy a nice assortment of bon-bons. As I tasted them, one after the other, I couldn't help but feel strange. These weren't what I was expecting. Wait a minute, I said, we are 20 minutes drive from Belgium now! The chocolate here should blow me away! We tried another shop in the Netherlands. And another. And another... I'm not saying that any of these chocolates tasted bad, of course. I'm just saying that they are maybe a step down from Ghiradelli or Godiva. Of course they are better than Bakers chocolate, or a Hershey bar. But I was puzzled. Where was the Callebaut at every street corner?

It turns out that the Dutch have very different preferences for chocolate than the French, for example. If you bring bon-bons from the Netherlands back to the US, people will say they are good. So it isn't you, its me. I must just have taste buds that are more like French people.

Twenty minutes away from Belgium and where is the Callebaut? At the watermill, of course! Genneper Park watermolen, located in Eindhoven, sells chocolate chips made from Callebaut chocolate. SCORE!

Here are some other tidbits I found there:

Chocolate chips are called "chocoladedruppels". A 500g bag of the Callebaut ones is 5.95 euros. They come in normal size and also mini chip size. I get my flour for cookies and cakes here and it is called zeeuwse bloem. Most similar to an all-purpose flour in the USA, zeeuwse bloem has been great in a country dominated by bread flour. The poeder suiker (powdered sugar) they sell there is similar to Domino's in the USA, perfect for icing and frostings. Do not buy the poeder suiker from AH for anything other than a brief sprinkle on pancakes. It is too grainy for frosting.

Don't worry, I got my chocolate fix: in Switzerland at the Cailler factory in Broc.

The chocolate there completely blew me away. It was difficult to select which chocolate treats to buy because they all tasted good. Oh yes, they had a tasting room.... unsupervised.... and it was not a dream. I have pictures to prove it.

We brought home as much as my husband would allow me...

...and it was gone in less than a week. Guess we'll have to go back!