Sunday, January 19, 2014

Banket: A New Favorite

Growing up in West Michigan in a family that is very proud of their Dutch heritage means that I grew up eating my fair share of Dutch goodies; boterkoek, Jan Hagels, oliebollen and windmill cookies to name a few. They're all delicious, but in my opinion there is nothing better than a stick of homemade banket, especially during the holidays. I've shared a banket recipe on the site before which was very good, but I was never completely satisfied with it, especially with the filling. I don't like my banket filling to be too dry, and while the previous recipe was delicious, the filling was just too dry for my taste, I wanted something else. 

This Christmas I decided to go on a search to see if I could find the banket recipe I've been hoping for. There are not the many banket recipes out there, so it took a bit of searching, but I finally came up with a recipe from The Lilypad Cottage that looked like it could be the one. It came together pretty easily so I was very hopeful when I put the first batch into the oven. I have to say, they turned out just about perfectly. Exactly what I was hoping for. A light, and flaky buttery crust wrapped around the perfect almond paste filling. I think I found it!

***UPDATE: I've Moved!! Check out the new site at HERE for this recipe and many more!!


This recipe is a two day affair, or a long one day affair. The dough and filling need to chill up pretty firm before you use them. Another thing I love about banket is that it is so easy to freeze. I just shape it up and pop the unbaked rolls into the freezer for a few hours. Then I wrap them in plastic and keep in a bag in the freezer until I need them. You don't even have to thaw before baking. Just unwrap, place on a cookie sheet and bake from frozen. They might take a few extra minutes from frozen but other than that you can't even tell. Super easy!






Banket
Adapted from The Lily Pad Cottage
Ingredients
Dough
  • 4 cups flour
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 pound cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • scant 1 cup cold water
Filling
  • 1 pound of almond paste
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
To Finish
  • 1-2 Egg yolks
Directions
For the dough, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the pieces of cold butter and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry blender (you can also use two forks or even your fingers, but work fast, you don't want the butter to get too warm) until the butter is about pea sized. Make a well in the middle and add cold water, mix until a shaggy dough is formed, don’t over mix. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

For the filling, break up almond paste in a bowl. Add eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day cut divide both the dough and the filling into 8 equal portions, use a scale if you have it.

Take one piece of dough and roll out into a long, thin rectangle, approximately 13x4 inches. Place one piece of filling on the rolled out dough, spreading it along the length of dough, a little closer to one side, forming an even line. Roll up the long way, folding the ends under. Pinch together slightly so the filling doesn’t ooze out.

Dock the rolls with a fork, brush with egg yolks.

At this point you can stick the pans in your freezer until the Banket is frozen hard. Then you can wrap them up and bake off as needed.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes (I do about 30 minutes when baking from frozen) until golden brown. Let cool before slicing into 1-2 inch pieces, enjoy!

8 comments:

  1. I'm confused about what to do with the butter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops! Sorry about that. I've fixed it in the recipe, let me know if you're still confused.

      Delete
  2. i haven't heard of banket before, but it looks like something i would love.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jana,
    These are beautiful, I've been searching around the different recipes and I like yours. This past tks giving I made pie shells in food processor, flour salt pulsed, plop in very cold butter pieces pulsed to pea size then water. May I do this here?
    Thank you Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diane, first of all, thanks for stopping by my blog! While I haven't made this dough with a food processor, I have made pie dough and similar recipes in a food processor as you have, and this recipe is quite similar. I would think that this would work just fine here although I can't say for sure. I would say go for it! If you do end up trying it please let me know how it turns out!

      Delete
  4. I made this for the first time, after trying it at a breakfast meeting put on by my Dutch girlfriend. I embarrassed myself by the audible groans of pure pleasure that came out of my mouth as I ate the flaky, almond-y pastry. It melted in my mouth and left me begging for more. She wrapped the remaining portion and gave it to me when I left, but it didn't even make it home on the 45 minute drive. Thank you for your recipe and the tips. It came out beautifully and I gave a stick to each of my three closest neighbors, none of whom had ever had it before. Their experience was like mine...groans of delight. <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I meant to add that I used my food processor for the pastry and it was perfect. PERFECT. Just keep the ingredients very very cold and mind the pulsing so you don't chop up the butter too fine.

      Delete
    2. I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe! Banket is the best!!

      Delete