Salted Brownie Cookies

9/11/2026

Amsterdam is beautiful in that effortlessly photogenic way—gabled houses leaning charmingly toward the canals, bridges strung across the water, flowers spilling from window boxes, tiny cars and bicycles absolutely everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. 🤣🚲

Amsterdam is famously built for cycling, with an enormous network of bike routes and hundreds of thousands of bicycles moving through the city every single day. As a visitor, I quickly learned an important rule: If you hear a bicycle bell, move.🛎️🤣
Don't look around.
Don't wonder where it's coming from.
Don't stop to take a picture.
Just move.

Bicycles in Amsterdam have the right of way over pedestrians, cars, tourists, small dogs and possibly the Dutch royal family.  Because apparently, nothing says relaxing European vacation quite like voluntarily climbing onto a bicycle in a city where the locals ride like they were born with two wheels instead of feet - we joined the Amsterdam biker gang.😂  Sure, we could have taken a leisurely canal cruise where someone else does the navigating while we sat peacefully and admired the crooked little canal houses but we decided to hit the roads like locals instead. 😬

I had visions of effortlessly gliding through Amsterdam on a state of the art bicycle - scarf fluttering in the breeze, picturesque canals on either side, passing windmills along the way and maybe a charming little basket on the front of the bike.  What I didn't envision was the Amsterdam bicycle super highway.🤣
Bikes coming toward me.
Bikes passing me.
Bikes passing the bikes that are passing me.
People riding bikes while carrying other people.
People riding bikes while holding small children.

And then there was me. A Tourist. On a bicycle.😬 Trying desperately to remember which side of the bike lane I was supposed to be on while simultaneously attempting not to become a permanent fixture in someone's Instagram reel. Mercifully, the Dutch cyclists were patient.  Sort of.  Mostly they just rang their bells.

Eventually I figured out the secret to biking through Amsterdam: Act like you know what you're doing.😅 Confidence is everything. Even if you have absolutely no idea where you're going.🤣

Despite all the chaos, biking through Amsterdam was magical. We rode beside the canals, past charming windmills, little farms, remote wineries and impossibly charming cafés to the town of Ouderkirk aan de Amstel. It was a glorious way to spend an afternoon in the Netherlands.🇳🇱

There are no pictures of me on a bike because we were fully focused on not crashing into another bike carrying small children to school. I'm happy to report that no pedestrians were injured during our inaugural Amsterdam bike trip.😁 I admit that I actually felt a certain sense of accomplishment when I returned my bike - unharmed.😅

If extreme biking makes you as hungry as it made me, I recommend a delicious, sugary snack like these amazing salted brownie cookies after a ride. They're rich and fudgey in the middle, slightly crisp around the edges and intensely chocolatey—basically a brownie that decided it wanted to see the world.

Salted Brownie Cookies
2/3 cup flour
2 Tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate