Borstplaat is a Dutch sugar candy made by boiling sugar with water, milk or cream (often with a little butter), flavouring the syrup and stirring it until it begins to crystallise, then pouring it into small moulds to set. The result is a sweet, fine-grained, slightly crumbly candy that melts on the tongue — closer to fondant than to toffee or caramel. It belongs above all to the Sinterklaas season, and is the Sinterklaas sweet most often made at home.
The name is usually explained by the candy's origins as a remedy: borst means "chest", and sugar tablets were once sold as a soothing medicine for coughs and chest complaints; plaat refers to the flat shape. Sugar confections of this kind were luxury goods for centuries and became everyday sweets only once sugar — from cane and, from the nineteenth century, from beet — grew cheap.
The technique
The method is short but exact. Sugar and liquid are heated together until the sugar dissolves and the syrup boils; it is cooked to around the soft-ball stage (roughly 115–118°C), flavouring is added, and the mass is stirred until it turns from glossy to slightly dull and thick. It is then poured or spooned quickly into greased rings or moulds — hearts, rounds, stars, small animals — before it sets. Many home cooks use fondant sugar, which seeds the syrup with tiny crystals and makes a smooth texture easier to achieve.
The flavours
Common flavours include:
- Vanille — vanilla, pale cream in colour.
- Chocolade or cacao — made with cocoa powder, mid-brown.
- Koffie — coffee, pale brown.
- Fruit flavours such as strawberry or lemon, often tinted pink or yellow.
A plate of borstplaat in several colours, one per flavour, is a familiar sight on the Sinterklaas table.
Keeping it
Borstplaat is at its best within a few days of making. Sugar draws moisture from the air, so the surface can turn sticky, and the fine crystals coarsen over time. Commercial borstplaat lasts longer, usually thanks to recipe adjustments, but home-made borstplaat should be kept in an airtight tin and eaten within a week or so.
Relatives abroad
There is no single German equivalent, so a search for "duitse borstplaat" usually ends at fondant (Fondant in German too) or at home-made sugar confections. The closest relatives elsewhere are Scottish tablet, which is grainier and made with condensed milk and butter; American fudge, which is creamier and softer; and plain cooked fondant, which is smoother and usually used as a filling or icing. Borstplaat sits between them: drier than fudge, more crumbly than fondant.
As a household ritual
Because it needs only sugar, milk, a pan and some moulds, borstplaat is a classic thing to make with children in the run-up to Sinterklaas. The kruidnoten are bought, the chocolate letter comes from the shop, the marzipan figure from the baker — but in many households the borstplaat is still made at home.