(Dutch for "Merry Christmas") :-)
My mom and I have a lovely tradition of assembling Dutch letters during the Christmas season!
Dutch letters are pastry tubes made with an almond filling. Traditionally they are shaped like a letter S, and this is usually how you will find them at a Dutch bakery. Since the pastry dough is kind of fragile and thin, my mom and I have had the most success making lowercase Ls :-)
According to the Jaarsma Bakery's website (Jaarsma is in Pella where my sister lives), Dutch letters have been a favorite treat in the Netherlands since the 1800s, and when the children celebrated Sinterklaas on December 6 they would leave the pastries for him.
Mom put the dough and filling together ahead of time for our baking extravaganza. If I can find the recipe, I'll post it -- it may be on my computer somewhere. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the assembly process:
Roll out a 2-oz piece of chilled dough...
...until it is 14" long and 4" wide, approximately. You have to use a ton of flour to keep these babies from sticking to your countertop.
Grab some of the almond paste mixture (Mom pre-measured it with a cookie scoop)...
...and form it into a snake.
Fold the dough over the top...
...then seal the other side with a bit of water to create the letter.
Poke the letters with a fork so the steam can escape...
...and brush the tops with beaten egg white.
Lastly, sprinkle a bunch of coarse sugar on the top! Be generous--the sugar makes a lovely crunchy top. I use raw sugar from Hy Vee.
They're all ready to bake at this point, at 350 degrees for 20-ish minutes or until golden brown. Or, put the cookie sheets into the deep freeze, and when the letters are frozen, bundle them up in foil or plastic wrap and they'll keep for several months. I like to freeze a few dozen and keep them on hand for special gifts.
My chalkboard. Translation? Delicious!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Tom, Jude and I got to travel to his hometown for Christmas Day, and then to Pella to join up with the Neerhof side. We are glad to be at home now and soaking up the rest of the week off. This time of year we are always so happy to have our break from school. From my perspective: concerts are done and I am DONE singing Jingle Bells until next December. From his perspective: basketball season is crazy, so this is precious time to spend with family and to catch up on sleep.
The rest of the winter will fly right by! Betty and the Gents will play some fun shows (Valentine's Day at MC Brewing, for one) and we will keep busy with everything else we do.
I always make a Summer Bucket List when March or April rolls around and we get the first glimpse of spring. Maybe it's time for a Winter Bucket List...
I'm thinking as I type, so these are in no particular order.
- Eat dinner at 1910 Grille. This time, no pregnancy nausea!
- GO SKIING. Yes. I want to SKI for heavens sake. I haven't been skiing since.... gosh, it must have been 2006 or 07. That is pathetic. My family traveled to Colorado every few years when we were growing up and skiing was a huge part of our lives. Why have I let it slip away? I don't need a trip to Colorado...don't have the funds...but a weekend in Minnesota would be splendid. (By the way, Tom doesn't ski and he doesn't want to learn. Can you please help me convince him that it's the most fun thing in the world?)
- Go to a movie. I haven't seen one in a theatre since before Jude was born. It's time.
- Go sledding. Because it's fun and I like to pretend I'm ten years old again.
- Go ice skating. Did you know I used to be a figure skater? True story.
- Make a snow angel. Because why not?
- Eat more sushi. Tom and I went to the Mall of America on the first Monday of break and we ate at Crave, which is one of our favorite places in the mall. I ordered a beautiful sushi platter and it was so good I wanted to roll around in it. (Weird? Yeah....sorry) There is this place in Des Moines I would like to visit, and we can't wait to return to our go-to date night spot in Minneapolis, Seven.
- Decorate my house. I got some gift cards for Christmas to all of my favorite places, so I can find unique and beautiful decor for our house! I can't wait to rally my mom and sister sometime, and hit up these stores so I can make this place look like a home.
- Spend more time with family. Enough said. Isn't family worth every struggle, every disagreement, every moment of stress and worry? In the end, it's those people who will love you the most and be there for you. We need more time together.
- Start lifting again. Sometimes I feel like finding the time to go for a run or walk is impossible...and lifting weights again is only in my dreams. I miss it. It will happen again. Hopefully soon. Would it be weird to bring the pack-and-play and set it up in the weight room so Jude could come along?
- Write on my blog. Ha. We'll see if this happens past this week :-)
Enjoy the last remaining days of the Christmas season (it's not over yet!) and have a wonderful New Year!
Love, Betsy
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