Dutch Letters

Well, half of my family is Dutch, very Dutch, so it's only natural to have a recipe for Dutch Letters. As this was my first attempt at making them, I did not venture away from lower case l's as my letter of choice. They are quite a bit of work, however they make a lot of them, and they freeze. Today, I pulled these out of the freezer just to see how well it worked. It was awesome.  To freeze, simply make them up into the shapes that you want a freeze prior to brushing with egg whites.  Pull them out whenever you want this sweet treat!

Ingredients

Dough

1 lb. butter
4 c. flour
1 c. water

Filling

1 lb. ODENSE almond paste

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla

Directions

1. Dough: Mix butter and flour. Stir in water and mix well. Chill overnight or longer.
2. Filling: Beat almond paste with an electric mixer until smooth.  Then add remaining filling ingredients and mix well.  Chill.
3. When ready to bake, divide dough and filling into 14 equal parts. (This will make Dutch letters that are about 12 " long and 2" inches wide. I just make them straight instead of the 'S'.)
4. Roll 1 section of dough into a 14" x 4" strip.  Then take a section of filling and spread it down the center of the dough strip.  Lap one side of dough over the filling, then the other side and pinch the ends shut.
5. Place on greased cookie sheet with seams on the bottom.
6. Brush tops with beaten egg whites and sprinkle sugar on top and prick with fork every 2 inches for steam to escape.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.