Almond Letters Messapine Recipe - flour

Method

• Referred to by family members as just Messapine.
• It is a traditional treat at Christmas.
• Mother mixes up the pastry and dough and invites one of the daughters to help her roll it out the following day.
• The notable differences in our recipes are the addition of baking pwdr and the way it is rolled out.
• Some of the younger family members use your method but there is a significant loss to the traditional flakiness of the pastry.
• Well worth the effort and a fun evening for mother and daughter.
• Pastry Dough: Sift together the flour and baking pwdr.
• Cut in the butter until it is fine as meal.
• Add in the Cool water and mix into a smooth dough.
• Cover and chill.
• Filling: Blend the almond paste and sugar in a blender or possibly food processor.
• Add in the Large eggs to the almond sugar mix and mix thoroughly.
• Cover and chill.
• Chill both the pastry and filling overnight.
• To prepare for baking: Remove filling from fridge and allow to hot to room temperature.
• Keep dough refrigerated.
• Divide the dough into 8 parts.
• Shape each part into a ball and roll into a very large rectangle.
• The pastry should be almost paper thin.
• Carefully spread the filling proportionately over the pastry: Divide the filling into 8 portions.
• The filling is sticky and the fragile pastry tears easily.
• Use small dollops of filling and spread with a spatula.
• Roll up like a jelly roll.
• Starting from a long side.
• Place on large baking sheets.
• Brush with egg slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake at 425 degrees F. for 25 min.