Good Things Come in Small Pillows...

...small pillows of doughy goodness, that is. Yesterday I sampled an amazing Dutch treat - poffertjes. 

Poffertjes are sometimes called miniature Dutch pancakes, by that name is completely misleading, at least in my opinion. Maybe because miniature pancakes conjures up images of silver dollar pancakes which are completely different. 

Pancakes, at least the American version, are round and flat, but substantive, like a sweet, spongy frisbee. In contrast, French crepes are paper thin pancakes that are usually filled with fruit or savories and then folded. On the surface crepes and poffertjes but the Dutch mini pancake can thank crepes and Napolean for its existence. 

Crepes were traditionally made from wheat flour. During the Napolenic wars, however, the Fench Army pretty much took all of the wheat flour for themselves. French monks who presumably couldn't live without their delicious crepes began experimenting with buckwheat and yeast to compensate of the lack of wheat flour. 

Necessity really is the mother of invention or the mere of poffertjes in this case. Some Dutch traders who were traveling thought France and got hungry, dropped in on the monka. The monks trotted out some tasty little pillows of yummy and the traders couldn't get enough. This last part might not be entirely true, but Dutch traders did acquire the recipe from the monks and took it back to Holland with them and adapted it to become modern Dutch poffertjes. 

While normally served with butter and powdered sugar, I borrowe a page from those Dutch traders and did some adapting of my own. I added strawberries and Nutella for an amazingly delicious local meal!