Chocolate instead of hundreds and thousands: How to make Dutch fairy bread

Fairy bread is an Aussie food favourite but it has been revealed Holland has its own version using chocolate sprinkles — and it’s delicious.

We spotted a few comments on a fairy bread video online from people in Holland saying that they have their own version of sprinkles on buttered bread that they serve at parties, so we immediately got into research mode. Soon, we discovered: HAGELSLAG.

What is hagelslag?

It’s much the same as our own fairy bread. It also involves soft, sliced white bread spread thickly with butter.

But instead of topping it with colourful hundreds and thousands like the Aussie version, you instead use chocolate strands (aka hagel).

They’re super rich because of their high content of quality cocoa and literally melt in your mouth when you eat them.

FULL RECIPE: HOW TO MAKE HAGELSLAG

Dutch fairy bread is actually a thing. Picture: Supplied

What does hagelslag taste like?

Taste food director Amira Georgy was the lucky person tasked with taste-testing hagel and hagelslag for the first time and she gave both a big thumbs up.

“I generally don’t like when traditional sprinkles have a slightly gritty texture and get stuck in your teeth,” she said.

“However, the Dutch sprinkles actually have a strong chocolatey flavour and softer texture, which means they don’t get stuck in your teeth and they soften and melt as you chew them.

“My three-year-old daughter saw me trying them and asked me if she could have some ‘chocolate French fries’. She loved them, too.”

Where to buy Hagel to make hagelslag

Amira used The Dutch Co brand of ‘Hagel’ and found the packet in the international aisle at Coles supermarket.

How to coat fairy bread

Do you always get 100s and 1000s all over your kitchen benchtop and floor when you make fairy bread?

Fairy bread is always a party favourite.

Our friends over at Australia’s Best Recipes have the best hack. Simply tip all your sprinkles into a rectangular container, spread your bread with butter and then press it, buttered side down, into the sprinkles.

Just like (fairy) magic, there you have it – a thick, neat layer of 100s and 1000s without making a mess.

The escaping sprinkles issue won’t be as bad when working with Dutch chocolate sprinkles, but this technique still works, so it’s worth a try.

The perfect fairy bread formula

We recently asked Amira if she could figure out the ideal bread-to-butter-to-sprinkles ratio when making fairy bread.

She said: “Some people say that fairy bread should have the ratio of equal parts butter to sprinkles, but I think the perfect balance is three parts sprinkles to two parts butter.”

This means that you should use 1 tablespoon of butter and 1.5 tablespoons of hundreds and thousands for every 2 slices of bread. Find out more on her theory here.

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as Chocolate instead of hundreds and thousands: How to make Dutch fairy bread