Hopjes (; also referred to as Haagsche Hopjes, ''hopjes from

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

'') are a type of Dutch

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

with a slight coffee and

caramel Caramel ( or ) is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, or as a topping for ice cream and custard. The process of caramelizati ...

flavour that originated in the 18th century. The hopje is named after Baron Hendrik Hop who was recalled as an envoy in Brussels when the French invaded Belgium in 1792. He moved into rooms above the confectioners Van Haaren & Nieuwerkerk. He was addicted to coffee and the story goes that one night he left his coffee with sugar and cream on the heater, where it evaporated. On tasting the resulting substance, he loved it. His doctor advised him not to drink coffee so he asked the confectioner Theodorus van Haaren to make him some "lumps of coffee". After some experimenting, Van Haaren created a sweet made of coffee, caramel,

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

. The enthusiastic Baron Hop was keen to let his guests try his 'Hopjes', which quickly gained popularity. Van Haaren's successor eventually even got orders from abroad. A typical characteristic of the hopje is that it does not stick and that it does not go soft over time. J.P. Rademaker copied the hopjes and marketed them as "the only real Haagsche Hopjes". He was the first to wrap the individual sweets in printed paper, which was not usual at the time. Rademaker and Nieuwerkerk litigated for many years. When the Rotterdam company Rademaker took over Nieuwerkerk in 1949 the dispute continued between the two Rademaker companies for 40 years, until a 1989 ruling from the Dutch Advertising Code Committee ordered Rademaker to desist from using the term "the only real Haagsche Hopjes". Currently Rademaker Hopjes wrappers display the phrase "Alleen Echt Met Dit Merk" (Dutch: "Only Real With This Brand") instead. From 1990 to 1998 The Hague had a museum called ''Museum voor het Haagsche Hopje'', which was dedicated to the hopje and its history, located in the monumental building Oude Molstraat 30. The museum has since closed down. Rademaker has been owned by RBV Leaf, part of the CSM group, since 1999.

References

{{Reflist Dutch confectionery Dutch words and phrases