The Letters of my People

When things get stressful… I bake. That’s life. Well… life was pretty dang stressful and finally eased up but then… one more feather falling to break the back of all of us… Andy might have been exposed to COVID… he needed to be tested and pending the results all of Christmas could be canceled or saved. Ugh! So while he was waiting three hours in line to be tested (safely in his car) I was at home making Dutch Letters, all 20 I might add. I’ve made Dutch Letters before, but not this way. These were a tad different and honestly? Very close to what I’ve had before in Pella, Iowa from Jaarsma’s Bakery. The recipe I made before was very similar to my mom’s banket recipe and something about that just wasn’t what I was looking for in a Dutch Letter, these had brown sugar in the filling, they were perfect. All the hard work amounted to beautiful S’s and tasted flakey pastry. I used course sugar on top for the perfect sparkly tasty toping. Thankfully Andy was negative for COVID and Christmas was saved! We were able to share these yummy letters with our family who also agreed they were worth the stress baking, but not the stress.

Dutch Letters
Pastry:
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup cold water
1 large egg

Filling:
8 ounces almond paste 2 large egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Finishing:
1/4 cup whole milk for brushing
1/4 cup granulated sugar for sprinkling

In a small bowl, whisk together the cold water and the egg. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mix-ture. Stir with a wooden spoon to form a shaggy dough. Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Knead until the dough just begins to come together, about 10 strokes. Roll out the dough into a 10 x 15-inch/25 x 38 cm rectangle.
Fold the 2 short sides of rectangle toward the center so they meet in middle, and then fold the left side of the dough toward the right, closing it like a book. Rotate the rectangle 90 degrees; repeat the rolling and book-folding technique. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
Unwrap the dough and repeat the rolling and fold¬ing technique twice more. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap again and chill for 1 hour more. Don't clean that work surface just yet!
Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the almond paste, egg whites, granulated and brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Use a handheld mixer on medium-high speed to beat the filling until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Position racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 375 C. Line two 12 F/190 x 17-inch/30 x 43 cm baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lightly reflour your work surface. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Working with 1 portion
of dough at a time (and keeping the remainder wrapped and chilled), roll each piece into a 10 x 12 1/2-inch rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or thin, sharp knife, divide the rectangle into 5 strips, each measuring 2 1/2 x 10 inches. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling onto each strip. Slightly dampen your fingertips and use them to spread the filling in a long ribbon down the center of each strip.
Roll up each strip lengthwise into a thin tube, completely encasing the filling. Using a pastry brush, dampen the edges and ends of each with milk, and pinch the dough to seal tightly. Roll the tube back and forth a few times to ensure the seal and lengthen the tube by 1 inch/2.5 cm or so. Shape each tube into an S shape and place the pastries, seam-side down and evenly spaced, on the prepared baking sheets, 5 per sheet. Brush the tops lightly with milk and sprinkle liberally with granulated sugar.
Bake the pastries until golden, about 25 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before serving.