I suppose it's the time of year to remember absent and departed friends; I was thinking of my father.It comforts me to think that he is still alive in my memory and that a part of him lives on through me and my children.Merry Xmas.

Your description of oliebollen has made my mouth water and forced me to comment for the first time.

My late Oma (Dutch grandmother) used to make the best oliebollen and like you we stuffed ourselves full once or twice a year on these special treats. My aunt has since taken over responsibility for making the oliebollen each Christmas, but it's never quite the same as Oma's. One day perhaps I'll travel to the Netherlands and learn the recipe and technique from someone who never left.

PS. Love the site. Keep up the good work :)

Oliebollen are love, it's just that simple. What a memory to treasure.

Oh holy fritters!

That so takes me back... I don't think it was dutch-inspired, but one of the cooks at the commune I grew up in made these amazing fritters-they were sooooo damn good my mouth is watering even now, millenia later!

God, we'd eat so many, we'd be so stuffed silly...

Oh, the glory...

Thanks for reminding me!

:)

My grandmother was the first child born one year after her parents came here from Poland/Russia...depends upon whom you asked.

She was a fabulous cook. I remember making homemade french fries with her. She would pull them out of the hot oil and I would stand with the brown paper sack. Salt would be poured in with the potato slices and I would fold the top of the bag over and shake like ther was no tomorrow. With steak, steamed artichoke and a salad....heaven.

I know why you miss her.

She sounds lovely.

I'm drooling over here....

Thank you for bringing forth the memories. My grandmother was from Italy. We stuffed ourselves on struffoli, "wandi", and zeppole. The zeppole was coated in a delicious honey and had a "surprise" in the middle. As children we were terrified of biting into it, as we got older we looked forward to the bite of anchovy. My husband's grandmother was from Austria and she taught me to make her kolaches. The dough was started 5 am, the rising took forever. The fillings of prune and apricot and poppy seed and the struesel topping were made. An all day project that all looked forward to. As with your grandmother we all said "hands of gold" -- but it was pure love.
Thank you

Lovely post, "she hears you".

On Monday/Tuesday I made 'lebkuchen' with a retired couple whose own two busy daughters can't be bothered. They were so cute, so proud, so pleased to share. HE did the inviting, SHE made the cookies for the first time in three years. And the cookies are spectacular, different than anything I've ever had before! It's not an 'official' public post but some of your readers might enjoy the sense of heritage, the way foods can 'pass along' from generation to generation, it's here http://cookieswap.blogspot.com/. And today? I'm making "Nana's Shortbread".

Omas always make the lekkerste oliebollen! In our house we usually reserve the treat for New Years but as soon as the leaves begin falling the stands pop up all over the place and the air smells of oliebollen. Tis the season :)

My dad's mother's pie crust and his sister's cloverleaf rolls. They could crank out the food. They cooked for harvester crews of hungry men in 100 degree heat - sometimes on a wood burning stove... I've come close on my aunt's rolls but the pie crust eludes me. I keep trying - that's how we keep 'em with us. Merry Christmas.

My grandmother made "sticky buns." I'm now the designated sticky bun maker and there is always something not quite right about them. It's definitely the hands.

My mother past away 2 years ago and I still can't replicate the desserts ahe used to make...but it was also the environment she created.

My mother is German and made Iowa fry bread for my brother and me when we were growing up. Same idea, no apples or currents though, just bread dough fried in hot oil, then shaken in paper bag with sugar and cinnamon. She also made homemade cake doughnuts (much more substantial than storebought ones) the same way. The process was always fraught with a certain amount of danger because of the hazard of a grease fire on a woodburning stove in the dead of winter. *Sigh* You never really appreciate all the work your mother does for you until you grow up.

Your dutch treat took me back so poignantly, I had to link to it on my own blog:

http://slenderthunder.com/breakingsod/

Thanks for the memories!

:)

I have an Oma too - Oliebollen are a New Year's tradition too. Luckily my mom got the 'oliebollen' gene from her mom (Oma) and she makes delicious ones.... and she only lives two minutes away. My husband has started to look forward to the oliebollen now. He's catching on.

I think you never really stop missing them.

Oliebollen means "oil balls". It is actually plural, so the singular would probably be something like olieboll. I am not Dutch, I am Swedish, but some aspects of the language are similar. In Swedish we would call them oljebollen and the singular would be oljeboll. But I don't think oil balls are that popular in Sweden. Much more popular are what can literally be translated as negro balls. Um... yeah. They're chocolate, OK?