A crisp, lacy fried fritter from Friesland. A thin batter is dribbled (drabbelen) through a funnel into hot butter while the hand moves, so it builds from tangled strands into an airy spiral, fried golden and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. A Frisian tea-time and fair treat from the town of Sneek.
Drabbelkoek comes from Sneek in Friesland, where it has been fried since around 1700. The name is from the dialect drabbelen, to dribble: the batter is funneled in thin strands into hot fat while the baker moves the funnel. The Sneek butter-drabbelkoek maker De Friese Sjees has been a royal court supplier since 1880. Once a market and festive sweet, it gradually survived only in Friesland.
The thin lacy shell shatters at first bite, the inside airy and almost melting. The mouth fills with the toasty aroma of frying, threaded with warm cinnamon, finishing as the powdered sugar dissolves clean.
A thin batter of wheat flour cut with buckwheat is loose enough to run from a funnel in a line; as the funnel moves, the strands set instantly in the hot butter into an open lacy web whose high surface area fries especially light and crisp. Cooled draped over an upturned bowl, it sets into its signature slightly domed shape; sugar and cinnamon are dusted on while hot so they cling evenly.
Variations
Finishes vary by maker: some dust only powdered sugar, others add cinnamon for extra warmth; the ratio of wheat to buckwheat flour in the batter also varies, more buckwheat giving a darker, fuller flavor. Traditionally the fresh-fried cakes are inverted over a bowl to cool, setting the slightly bulbous domed crown that is their signature look.
On the Palate
Where Drabbelkoek sits in the Dutch flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 30 min active + 45 min waiting
- 15 min
Cream 250 g butter with 200 g sugar until pale.
Watch outCream the butter and sugar until visibly paler and fluffy — that whipped-in air is what keeps the baked cookie light rather than dense.
- 23 min
Beat in 1 egg yolk + 2 tsp ground anise seed + 1/4 tsp salt.
- 333 min
Fold in 400 g flour to soft dough; chill 30 min.
- 48 min
Roll out 1 cm thick; cut into 8x4 cm rectangles.
- 518 min
Bake 175 °C 18 min until pale golden.
Watch outPull them at pale golden, not brown — these are meant to stay light-colored and tender; over-baking dries them stiff.
- 615 min
Glaze warm cookies with sugar-water icing; let set 15 min.
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