Utrecht, this is a province I know! I lived there for a few years when I went to college, I love Utrecht. The capital of the province of Utrecht is a city called Utrecht. It is beautiful, and a lot of the inhabitants are students. So lots of bars, sororities, and fraternities. It is also more than 900 years old, a medieval town, so lots of history. The Dom Tower stands proudly in the middle of the city center.

In 47AD the Roman general Corbulo built a number of forts along the Rhine river. One of which is around a military fortification called Trajectum (Which later became Utrecht). In 722 Willibrord founded a bishopric in Trajectum to convert the Friesians, to Christianity. Its main function back then was church town in addition to being the official seat of the archbishop.  Eventually due to its strategic position along the Rhine Utrecht became an important trade city with 4 annual fairs and people from all over the area bringing their goods to sell them.

Nowadays Utrecht is the 4th biggest city in the Netherlands and in my eyes one of the most beautiful and cozy cities in our country!

Things you didn’t know about Utrecht:

• In the 16th century, Utrecht’s first university was founded. It was quite a popular university because the students could drink beer and wine tax-free. After 20 years the city had lured enough students to cancel the measure.
• You must have heard about the children’s cartoon, book character Miffy! The world-famous bunny was created in Utrecht by Dick Bruna. In Dutch we call Miffy Nijntje. There even is a Nijntje museum in Utrecht.
• WE LOVE BIKES in the Netherlands! So it’s not a surprise that the largest bike storage in the world is located in our country, next to Utrecht Central Station. There is room for 12.500 bikes in the storage.
• The story of a nun called Sister Bertken is a strange one. She was a nun who voluntarily locked herself up for 57 years in a tiny cell. She devoted all her time to praying to God and writing religious songs and books. She went in the cel in 1457 and stayed there until she passed away in 1514. She was buried inside the cell where she almost spend her entire life.

These cookies are really good! Jan Hagel Cookies are famous old Dutch spiced shortbread cookies. The elite used to call the common people Jan Hagel in the old days, and that is probably how they got their name. Commoners cookies or not I think they taste amazing with a cup of tea. The recipe calls for pearl sugar, pearl sugar is also called nib sugar and hail sugar. It’s a refined white sugar that’s very coarse and hard. It doesn’t melt during baking.

Ingredients:

• 200gr butter
• 150 gr brown sugar
• salt
• 1 egg + 1 extra eggyolk
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice or cinnamon (but I prefer Chinese five spice because it has a little more of a kick)
• 330 gr of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pearl sugar
• Sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Add the butter and brown sugar and mix until incorporated and creamy.
2. Add salt, egg, and spices. Mix again until incorporated.
3. Mix in flour and baking powder.
4. Cool your cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes until firm.
5. Preheat the oven to 175C
6. Roll out your dough with a rolling pin.
7. Whisk your remaining egg yolk.
8. Brush your cookie dough with the remaining egg yolk.
9. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds and pearl sugar.
10. Bake until golden for approximately 15/20 minutes.
11. When you take them out cut them into rectangles.
12. The crisp up when they cool down.