Hopjes are hard caramel sweets with a coffee flavour, a classic of the Low Countries. The sweet takes its name from Baron Hop, the eighteenth-century diplomat from The Hague who, according to tradition, lay at the origin of the recipe. The flavour combines toasted caramel and coffee, with the bitterness of the coffee balancing the sweetness nicely. Because the caramel is hard, the sweet dissolves slowly and the flavour lingers. Hopjes contain dairy and are therefore not vegan.
