Note: I was sent a review copy of Dutch Treats: Heirloom Recipes from Farmhouse Kitchens
I live in Philadelphia, and a one of the largest influences on our local food is definitely Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. Despite growing up here, I haven’t cooked many traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, although I certainly have been known to eat them!
Internationally known food historian William Woys Weaver has compiled over 100 heritage recipes, and the stories behind them, into one wonderful cookbook – Dutch Treats: Heirloom Recipes from Farmhouse Kitchens.
Recipes include Shoofly Cake, New Year’s Pretzels and the original recipe for Snickerdoodles. Dutch Treats explores the vast diversity of authentic baked goods, festive breads and pastries that we call Pennsylvania Dutch (named for the German-speaking immigrants who settled there starting in the late 1600s).
I enjoyed reading the back stories to all of these delicious baked goods as I paged through the book. From learning about traditional holiday treats, to why pretzels are considered good luck, the cookbook was an interesting read as well as a great source of yummy recipes.
I decided to make Raspberry Pockets, using a recipe for Almond Pastry Dough that dates back to a late 18th century recipe. I edited the recipe just a bit to use Orange Blossom Water instead of Rose Water, because that was what I had on hand. I also made the cookies a bit larger than suggested.
Ingredients:
For Almond Pastry Dough
- 5 cups pastry flour
- 1 cup superfine (caster) sugar
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
- 2 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the raspberry pockets)
- 6 to 9 tablespoons dry white wine
For Raspberry Pockets
- 1 cup fresh red raspberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water or to taste
- 1 batch almond pastry dough
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
- crystal (coarse) sugar, to taste
To make the dough, sift together the flour, sugar, almond flour and salt.
Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients to form crumbs.
In a separate bowl, beat the yolks until lemon colored.
Add in 6 tablespoons of white wine.
Add the yolk mixture to the crumbs and work into a dough, adding more wine if necessary.
It will be a relatively hard dough.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to make the raspberry pockets, remove the dough from the refrigerator.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the raspberries and sugar, gently mashing the fruit as you mix. Add in the orange blossom water and stir to combine.
Roll out the pastry dough on a well floured surface. Using a 4-inch cookie cutter with scalloped edges (if you prefer), cut out rounds of dough. (I was able to fit about 9 on a cookie sheet, so cut out about nine at a time.) Using a much smaller cookie cutter of your choice (not much larger than your thumbnail), cut out a shape on one side of the round, so that when folded over, it makes a window in the pocket. I used a heart, moon, and star cutter. Add to a greased cookie sheet.
Add a teaspoon of the mashed berries on to the half of the round without the window.
Fold over the side with the window, pressing closed.
Brush the top with egg whites.
Scatter liberally with crystal sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes and cool on racks. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
The raspberry pockets are a relatively simple cookie that can turn out really beautifully. The result is a nicely chewy cookie with a burst of raspberry flavor.
I liked that there is some sweetness (it is a cookie, after all), but not overwhelmingly so. The buttery almond dough does a nice job of holding up to the flavor of the raspberry mixture. The cookies also held up really well for a few days and stayed nice and chewy.
Dutch Treats is available for purchase this fall, just in time for some traditional holiday treats! It will be available on the St. Lynn’s Press website and Amazon as well as through all national chains and independent bookstores all over the US and Canada (including Barnes & Noble) on September 15, but can pre-ordered through Amazon today.
Ingredients
- 5 cups pastry flour
- 1 cup superfine (caster) sugar
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
- 2 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the raspberry pockets)
- 6 to 9 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1 cup fresh red raspberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water or to taste
- 1 batch almond pastry dough
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
- crystal (coarse) sugar, to taste
Instructions
- To make the dough, sift together the flour, sugar, almond flour and salt.
- Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients to form crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, beat the yolks until lemon colored.
- Add in 6 tablespoons of white wine.
- Add the yolk mixture to the crumbs and work into a dough, adding more wine if necessary. It will be a relatively hard dough.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. When ready to make the raspberry pockets, remove the dough from the refrigerator.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the raspberries and sugar, gently mashing the fruit as you mix. Add in the orange blossom water and stir to combine.
- Roll out the pastry dough on a well floured surface. Using a 4-inch cookie cutter with scalloped edges (if you prefer), cut out rounds of dough. (I was able to fit about 9 on a cookie sheet, so cut out about nine at a time.)
- Using a much smaller cookie cutter of your choice (not much larger than your thumbnail), cut out a shape on one side of the round, so that when folded over, it makes a window in the pocket. I used a heart, moon, and star cutter. Add to a greased cookie sheet.
- Add a teaspoon of the mashed berries on to the half of the round without the window.
- Fold over the side with the window, pressing closed.
- Brush the top with egg whites.
- Scatter liberally with crystal sugar.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes and cool on racks. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
