Sinterklaas Night (A Dutch Christmas Tradition)

Sinterklaas is a Christmas Tradition in the Netherlands. Sinterklaas had a long white beard, wore red and loved giving gifts to children. On 5 December, Sinterklaas rides his white horse across rooftops at night, listening through chimneys for the good children and leaving them treats in their shoes. Last year, we left our regular shoes out. A few months ago, I bought some wooden Dutch shoes from a Scandinavian Festival. And last night, we painted the wooden shoes, ate Danish Pancakes (Ebelskivers) for dinner, and left our shoes out for a special surprise in the morning. The focus of this tradition is on "GIVING" and how it brings happiness to others when we give.

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Ebelskiver Recipe: 

2 eggs 
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup melted butter 

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Separate the eggs and beat whites until soft peaks form. Set aside. In another bowl, combine egg yolks and buttermilk and mix together. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar all at once. Add melted butter and mix. Fold in egg whites. 

Heat Ebelskiver Pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking oil. Fill the cups 2/3 the way full and use two skewers to flip the pancakes when the bottoms are golden brown. Continue cooking until the other side is golden. You can check for doneness by breaking a ball in half. 

Serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup or jam. Makes about 30 pancake balls.

A few pictures:

Snowflake brought us wooden shoes and a note about our plans for the day.

We used acrylic paints to paint our shoes.

We left our shoes out overnight and woke up to find Chocolate Gold Coins!

We're going to continue this tradition every year!