Driving Home For Christmas

 Pen and pencil, 140 x 210 mm

Dresdner Stol

"A Stollen is a loaf-shaped cake containing dried fruit, and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season, when called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. A similar cake, found in Dutch cuisine, is called a Kerststol in Dutch, while in Italian cuisine the panettone also shows a likeness."
Source: Wikipedia.

It also happens to be one of my favourite type of breads/cakes. Especially when a slice is topped with real butter. Just delicious!

Dutch Treat

Last Christmas I made an old Dutch treat: apples baked in puff paste. The recipe is very simple and the result is very sweet and delicious. What does one want more in life?
After removing the skin and core of the apples I've putted a great deal of sugar, cinnamon and raisins into the apples. With almondpaste on top and bottom of the apples I folded the puff paste around it and baked them for about twenty-five minutes in the oven. As allways they were eaten in no-time by family and friends! I only had time to make a quick snapshot of these three. So I must admit I didn't draw this sketch in "real life" but by (digital) photograph. I hope you don't mind and that they look tasteful enough to give you an idea.
In the old days my father always had trouble making these apple bowls in our bakery. Somehow they mostly bursted in the oven because of too much heat and less time, I think. It's important not to have to high temperatures when you put them in the oven. Just give them a little time to get used to the heat. That works best (as with most things).

Almost a white christmas

A couple of days ago we had a little snowfall. It wasn't much, but enough to give you 'the white christmas spirit'. Furthermore we could skate on some canals, together with the whole family and some additional hot chocos with rum (always helpfull to get into a good skate-flow). It was a perfect day: blue air, ice and snow, no wind. It lasted only for one day, so now we are facing a green christmas. But at least we got the pictures...
The little fellow above had more luck with the snow. It was one of four commissioned illustrations I made last week for a Dutch weekly newspaper. It will be published this coming saturday. Ink and watercolor on 300 grs Canson.