Spijkenisse baker again wins "Oliebollen" test

The annual award for making the best "oliebollen" in the Netherlands again went to baker Voskamp from Spijkenisse. This is the third time Voskamp wins newspaper AD's oliebollen test, previous wins were 2015 and 2010.

Oliebollen are a traditional Dutch snack that is something of a cross between a dumpling and a donut, sometimes called Dutch donuts or just Dutchies in English.

This is the 24th edition of AD's Oliebollen test. This year the judges visited 160 oliebollen shops. The differences between the top performers were so small that the judges visited the top 10 shops another time. This year's second place went to Bakery Brokking in IJsselstein and third place went to Bakery Aad Klootwijk in Capelle aan den IJssel.

Despite the small differences among the top performers, the judges considered Voskamp's oliebollen the clear winners. "Absolute winner", "These make me happy", "Nice crunchy crust" and "light, well filled and tasty bite", were some of the judges' notes.

A lot of hard work goes into making the best oliebollen in the Netherlands - Voskamp's bakers receive hundreds of hours of training. "It is not only the recipe, everything has to be right. I need to make sure that my people can work under optimal conditions. The right equipment must be there. But if I want it to go wel, then also the driver must remain focused. And the saleswoman must be friendly to the customer and understand affairs, because otherwise everything is in vain", director Cees Weeda said to the newspaper.

Voskamp is a family business that has 17 branches and employs 180 people. It produces about 13 thousand oliebollen per hour. Last year over 500 thousand oliebollen were sold.