No it isn't a misspelling; bol is actually a Dutch word, a description of a certain kind of treat. I have seen apple bol, chocolate bol and the boys ate hazelnut bols (pictured). An apple bol is [generally speaking] a whole apple, cored and filled with brown sugar/cinnamon/butter and wrapped in puff pastry and baked. The hazelnut bol was about the size of an apple; the outside was a coating of chocolate and the inside seemingly crystallized sugar... meringue? with a hazelnut whip cream inside. We later enjoyed chocolate bols at a family's home in Weert, and sure enough, they are pastry filled with slagroom (whip cream) covered in just-hardened chocolate.
With my limited experience (ehem, I need to try more), Bol or Bollen seem to have in common the sphere and size of this particular treat. They are approximately the size of an apple, though bols are filled with whip cream and remind me of eclairs; bollen are more reminiscent of donuts and filled with with sweetened fruit, almond paste, or something similar to a pie filling. Bollen are baked and/or quickly fried, sometimes rolled in sugar, and apparently served just warmed... either way they are both sweet sweet sweet and I am quite impressed with the country-wide sweet tooth.
We ran across a tiny carnival while cycling from Den Bosch to Nuenun (Netherlands). They had a stand FULL of bollen and you would have thought I won the lottery. Almost tripping over family members, I bee-lined it to the stand. No doubt the stand-workers thought I was crazy as I giggled and scrambled to open my wallet. I will take two: a Rum Bollen and an Almond Bollen (admittedly that is in English). They had pineapple bollen and raisin bollen as well. They were served warm with powdered sugar sprinkled on this donut-like dough, and were filled with raisins and rum or almond paste [etc.], and we inhaled them and cared not that we dusted our chins, bellies and bikes with powdered sugar.
For more on our family's cycling trip across Holland (and tomorrow we enter Belgium!), find updates/stories and mishaps at www.familyfrolics.com.
