Rondo's

Rondo's....that's not a typo, by the way. There are clear rules in Dutch for the endings s and 's. If a word ends in -e, -el, -en, -er, -em, -ie or -eau then you write s in the plural. If a word ends in -i, -a, -o, -u, -y then you make it plural with 's. If there is a vowel before y, you write s next to it. Anyway, just thought you'd like to know!

Enough of grammar and language though, let's get back to what's important: our food! Or in this case, our vast amount of cakes, cookies, and pastries. As you can tell from the table of contents on the right side of this website, there are so many already featured...and there are still so many more to talk about. We have an amazing array of options, so I'll just keep plugging away at it!

This recipe has been requested several times, and rightfully so. If you've been around Dutch baked goods, you know we have a love for anything almond paste filled: gevulde koeken, amandelbroodjes, kerststol, gevulde speculaas...you name it. Today's treat is no different: an individual koek (a large cookie) portion filled with sweet almond paste. They come in two shapes: round called rondo, and elongated, called kano, but they're both the same baked good. I don't have that much more information about them, oddly enough. They start appearing in bakery advertisements around the middle of last century with apparently no previous or historical reference. I will do some more digging! 

The kano and rondo require a dedicated ring or elongated bottomless baking form, which would be hard to come by for those of us abroad, but I made do with a muffin pan like this one, one that has 12 holes, each one about 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide and about 1 inch (2.5 inch) deep. It changes the shape a bit but not the flavor - yay! If you don't have any almond paste left over from our holiday baking, see if you can make the almond paste a day or two ahead of time. It is not mandatory, but will improve the flavor. However....don't let it keep you from making these. Any rondo is better than no rondo ;-)

This makes approximately 10 rondo's. 

Rondo's

For the dough

2 sticks (225 grams) butter

1 cup (150 grams) sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups (300 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1 egg, beaten

Filling

1 cup (250 grams) almond paste

1/2 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon almond extract or flavoring

Topping

1/2 egg, beaten

10 plain, skinless almonds

Cut the butter in with the sugar, the baking powder, the flour, the salt and the lemon zest, until it resembles wet sand, then add the egg, and knead until the dough comes together. Wrap and chill. Mix the almond paste with half a beaten egg and a teaspoon of almond flavoring until it's well absorbed. Chill until use.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and roll out to 0.1 inch (3mm) thick. The diameter of the muffin cups is 3 inches, so you will need a cutter that measures 3.5 inches (8.8 cm) wide. I use an English muffin mold but a large jar lid will work as well. Spray each cup lightly and then carefully position a dough circle inside each cup, lining the sides almost to the top (see picture). 

Divide the almond paste between the rondos. Roll out the dough again and now cut out 10 circles, 3 inches wide, and place each circle on top of the almond paste. Carefully tap the sides of the circle with your finger so that it makes contact with the rest of the dough. Brush with the egg, and decorate with an almond piece. 

Bake in a 375F/190C oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.