Banket--aka Dutch Letters

I made a second (and fabulous) attempt at banket.  My dad used to organize bus trips all over the state and one of his most popular was to the Tulip Festival in Pella, IA which is a big Dutch community.  Pella is home to the Jaarsma bakery, famous for their S-shaped pastries called Dutch Letters - the S is for Sinterklaas aka Santa Clause.  Dad always brought back a couple to enjoy as a family.  It is one of my favorite food memories growing up. 

Last year a co-worker and I got to visiting about Christmas baking and she was describing an almond paste filled pastry called Banket (say Bahn-khett).  Halfway through I blurted out, "Those are Dutch letters!"  She had no idea what I was talking about.  She gave me the recipe from her family friend's blog.  I followed it to the letter and it was good, but it was not the same as my childhood memory.  It called for canned almond filling and the results were delicious but the filling was too loose in my opinion.  The Jaarsma pastry filling was more like putty.  In the meantime, I discovered the Jaarsma bakery had published it's Dutch Letter recipe online and it was almost identical to my friend's recipe other than the filling.  I amalgamated the two recipes and came up with a winner.

This is a rough puff pastry that requires chilling while making the dough.  This is my walk-out (as opposed to walk-IN) cooler--the deck!  I'm chilling both the dough and the almond filling in this picture.

My friend's recipe produced 8 fat logs which were delightful, but not how I remembered the Jaarsma version.  I got several 7 oz. tubes of almond PASTE (vs canned) on clearance last year and threw them in the freezer for a rainy day.  I used 2 tubes of paste and followed the Jaarsma's assembly instructions which makes 20 much skinnier logs.  This was more how I remembered them and they were a big hit at my family Christmas.  I've made similar rough puff pastry for raspberry hand pies that can be assembled, frozen and then later taken straight from the freezer and baked.  My next experiment is to make, shape, and freeze them to test bake them from frozen.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

I baked these as straight logs.  If we're going to call them Dutch Letters, they're lowercase L's!

Dough:
4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. cold butter (2 sticks)
1 c. ice water

Combine all dry ingredients and then cut butter in using a pastry blender to make a rough mixture.  Add ice water 1/4 c at a time and mix until it just comes together.  Shape dough into a 15" x 20" rectangle.  Fold in thirds as you would a business letter.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.  Roll into a 15" x 20" rectangle and again fold in thirds like a business letter.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill again for 20 minutes.  Repeat rolling/folding procedure one more time.  Keep wrapped and chilled until ready to shape pastry.  Make filling.

Filling:
Two 7-oz. tubes of Odense Almond Paste
7/8 c. white sugar
7/8 c. brown sugar
1 egg

Combine all ingredients and mash/knead til putty-like consistency.  Shape into a log and wrap in waxed paper.  Chill until ready to use.

In a small bowl, whisk together 2 egg whites with 2 Tbsp. water.  Set aside.

Remove dough from fridge and cut it into 4 equal pieces.  Work with one portion at a time and keep the rest wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge until ready to use.  Roll each cut piece into a 12.5" x 10" rectangle.  Cut each rectangle into five 2.5" x 10" rectangles.

Cut the filling log into 20 equal slices--this is only a rough guide.  Use one slice per Dutch letter.  Roll into a rope thicker than a pencil but skinnier than a magic marker.

Place a filling rope on one edge of each dough rectangle.  Brush opposite long edge with egg white mixture and starting with filling side, roll up lengthwise as tightly as possible.  Pinch and seal ends and seam as best you can.  Place seam side down on a baking sheet.  Repeat this with the remaining 4 dough rectangles.  Brush shaped Dutch letters with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.  Bake.

Repeat this entire measuring/cutting/shaping/baking with the remaining 3 pieces of dough for a total of 20 Dutch letters.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Watch very carefully after 10 minutes because they can burn quickly.

These were kind of fiddly, but I've baked things far fiddlier and they were worth every morsel!

Yuletide 2019

What a busy holiday season we've had!  We attended the St. Paul European Christmas Market for the first time and it was lovely!  I was googling knitting patterns and went down an interweb wormhole (like you do) and learned about this event that takes place every year.  Then I had to endure the agony of waiting for December so we could actually go!

The market is held outdoors at the Union Station on the roof and was a delightful winter activity.  There was ample opportunity to slip indoors to warm up and enjoy indoor family friendly activities when we needed a break from the cold.  Outdoors were stands selling knitwear, ornaments, trinkets and crafts as well as hot food like pierogies, bratwurst, freshly baked pretzels, spaetzle, mulled wine, etc.  Indoors were craft activities and a swanky upscale bake sale. 

This was a real curly horned goat hitched up to a small sled for pictures.  He was so patient and well behaved!  My niece Laina sat in the sleigh with Marek for a picture.

My mom traveled up with my sister and her kids to join us for a 14 degree outdoor afternoon.  At least there was no wind so we were fine bundled up in our winter-wear.  We're Minnesotans after all!  I brought thermoses of coffee and cocoa and the St. Lucia buns I'd baked in honor of Grandma Helen.  One thing I love about Marek in a stroller is we can effortlessly haul a lot of crap with us! 

We saw the Grinch as we were leaving!  He was lounging in a golf cart as the North Pole Express pulled out of the station.  We learned all about this while we were warming up and availing ourselves of the indoor restrooms.  It is a round trip old-timey train ride for kids.  They had a uniformed conductor shouting, "All aboard!" and ringing a bell while leading the passengers onto the train.  The trip is about 90 minutes round trip and sells out in October!  When Marek is older we'll have to look into this.  I've said it before, we Americans miss out on the romanticism of trains and what a great experience this is for little kids.

As you can see in the photos, we were bundled up on the day.  I'd recently finished a larger sized gopher bonnet for Marek and this was the most decent photo I got of him in it.  I've started calling  him "Flash" because he is always moving!

Speaking of Christmas projects, here are my two most favorite finished items.  I made colored pencil rolls for my younger nieces.  One loves foxes and one loves squirrels and they were in luck because I hoard critter fabric prints!

I'm happy to report that all the materials for these were already in my stash.  I got the colored pencils brand new at Joann's with coupons.  They were a big hit with my nieces which made my day.

Getting back to the European Market, we didn't buy any food because frankly it was too cold to take our gloves off.  I was inspired to bake some fresh pretzels though.  I was interested in the spaetzle with mushroom sauce, but by the time I was willing to buy them, Marek was ready for a nap.  Next year.  I did shell out $10 for this lovely Ukranian cross stitched egg ornament.  My favorite part is the ribbon tag that is the Ukranian flag!  I love Ukranian eggs!  This was a welcome addition to my tree ornament collection.

I bought this soft air-dry clay ornament kit at the Target Bullseye's Playground to make Marek hand print ornaments.  In fact I bought 3 of them:  one for us and one for each of our parents.  He is growing like a weed and I'm kicking myself that I didn't make a hand print ornament of him last Christmas.

I finally got a photo in this ornament I bought at Homegoods last year and I can't believe what a little squirt he was.  How time flies!

We informally had Christmas with Dave's parents the week before the holiday and spent the day baking Houska bread with them.  We traveled down to Iowa to have "Christmas"with my parents in January.  I assumed the task of making the lefse for the gathering and here is a close up shot of the speckled treat.  I don't like to let my lefse spots get too brown because it reminds me of moles and it has a burnt taste to it.  I realize there are some who would say it is not technically correct.

I have a recycled Ikea box that is designated as the lefse box to safely store and transport the flatbread.  I used a large scoop to portion out the dough and made 42 ginormous pieces of lefse with a 10 lbs potato batch.

This boy loves lefse!  My dear friend Nancy recently told me that lefse has long been a favorite Christmas treat that her grandmother used to make.  The next time I  make it, she wants to come and learn how!  Weeeeeeee!  I'll admit I'm kind of a snob because I love lefse still warm from the griddle.  If made well, it doesn't need butter or sugar, it just tastes like fresh potato bread. 

Marek is now able to climb up onto the couch which means we had to rearrange!  Our couch was butted up against the railing of our split level entry and it was just a matter of time before he went over the back of the couch to fall down the cliff of stairs.  The living room is now basically a mirror image of what it was.

It didn't take him long to realize how much fun it is to throw things over the ledge.

I think the room looks larger set up like this and I love that you can see in as you come up the stairs.  Here is Marek and Lopi greeting Dave as he comes home.

My little Norsk boy sat at the children's table for Christmas dinner at my parents' home.  That high chair was rosemal painted by a dear family friend years ago.

While M was napping, Dave and I put on winter boots and tramped around in the grove next to their house.  The area had received 8 inches of snow the night before we arrived and my nieces and nephew were eager to get out into it.  I can't remember the last time I was out enjoying the snow like that.

Two thirds of my siblings' kids are represented in this photo as they conquered a gnarly tree.

We walked Lopi around town and the nativity at my childhood church was still up!  Growing up, I loved this so much and wanted to play in there.  At night it was floodlit and looked magical.

This is the second year our tree has been downstairs and I feel like I don't get to enjoy it nearly as much because I spend most of my time upstairs.  M is interested in it but is being held back by the playpen in this photo.  Once he is able to admire but not touch it, we can spend more time around it. 

More than anything, I love coming home at night and seeing the lights through the window.  Even when I take the decorations down, I'll leave the electric candelabras in the window and some plain white lights in our front door window.  We have a lot of winter left and any extra light is so comforting.

And finally, here is Lopi relaxing in front of a "roaring fire" while we opened gifts during our Little Christmas.  I am so thankful for family and warm houses and hearts during this season!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!