Birthday Letters

Last weekend I went on a family camping trip to celebrate my sister's birthday. I was on breakfast duty. I made some quick scones, bought a bunch of fruit and yogurt, and packed blueberries and chocolate chips for pancakes. Then I decided to make something special - birthday special. I made Dutch Letters, in the shape of "L" for Lisa.

Since it was my first time making them (and because I was in a hurry), I used store-bought pastry dough. After defrosting the pastry dough, I cut it into ~4 x 6" sections. Remembering the flavor of Dutch Letter almond filling from my Iowa trip, I made a filling. I spread the filling down the middle of the pastry sections and rolled them into a tube, pressing the edge with a bit of water to seal. Then, I folded the tubes into L-shapes. While baking, some of these shapes morphed and a few of the letters ended up looking like sausage rolls. But they certainly tasted like Dutch Letters. Delicious.

Dutch Letters

Make your own pastry dough or buy a high quality store-bought brand (made with butter). Roll it out into sections wide enough to roll with a filling and long enough to form your letter of choice. The rolled pastry should be slightly larger than finger width.

Filling:

1 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp almond extract

See above for instructions on spreading the filling. I used ground whole almonds, but you can grind blanched almonds if you don't like the almond skins.

Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet at 400°F. Check after 15 minutes. The pastries should be lightly browned. Enjoy for breakfast, tea, dessert...