Hangop is a really authentic, Old-Dutch dessert recipe. So old-fashioned it’s in style again. It’s a very soft, creamy and rich dessert. The kind of dessert my grandmother used to make for me. Every Saturday morning she cooked something she knew I’d like—could be anything from Nasi Goreng to our families mashed cheese potatoes or pancakes—and she’d call our house and ask me to come over.

I’d then ride my little red bike over to grandma’s and spend a few hours eating, talking and singing songs while swinging on the swing my grandfather built for me against the majestic old chestnut tree. Wonderful memories. There’s a photo of me sitting on that swing in the cheese potatoes posting. My grandma died when I was 12. When I close my eyes and concentrate, I can still hear her voice on the phone asking me to come over.

Don’t you love how foods from your past are such a constant trip down memory lane? That’s also what I like about food blogs in general: the memories or stories attached to the recipes. It makes it all so much more personal than recipes from any given food magazine.

Ingredients:

4 cups full-fat yoghurt
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
5 tbsp sugar (or more)
1 large vanilla bean
fruit or nuts for topping

Directions:

* This is a really simple recipe. All you need is time.

We’re going to drain the whey so we’re left with a really thick yoghurt. Place a colander over a big bowl. The colander should not reach the bottom of the bowl.

And put a (clean) tea towel in there.

Pour the yoghurt into the towel. You could also do this with Turkish or Greek yoghurt. Lightly fold the towel over the yoghurt.

The whey will start dripping out immediately.

Put the bowl in your fridge and leave it to drain for as long as possible, but no less than 4 to 6 hours. Preferably overnight.

 
I went for 4 hours or my light would’ve been gone, normally I would have taken my time. The hangop could be much thicker, but you get the idea, right? Transfer the drained yoghurt to a big bowl.

Here’s the whey that came out of it. I’ve been told it makes for a great soup base. Have to try that sometime.

This was the first time I made whipped cream in my new gadget! One cup of cream. Don’t use the canned stuff, it’s gross!

Combined with sugar. Use more sugar than you normally would, so you’ll also sweeten the yoghurt. I opted for 5 tbsp, mildly sweet, use more if you have a sweet tooth.
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There. Whipped cream.

Please, don’t use vanilla extract in hangop. It’s a venial sin (pretty low on the scale, but still). You need the real deal, a big vanilla bean. Open up the pod and scrape the insides to get the vanilla seeds out.

Add the vanilla seeds to the yoghurt and stir it in.

I love seeing those black specks that give away real vanilla was used.

Carefully spoon in the whipped cream.

And this is Hangop. Literally translated it means hang up.

I prefer topping mine with fresh fruit. But you can top it with all sorts of things: nuts and honey, warm fruit, fruit soaked in alcohol, caramelized walnuts, compotes. Anything you like.