Sklandu Rauši

Makes approximately 12 Sklandu rauši

Rauši base

300 g rye flour
120 g water
30 g lard
7 g sugar
salt
1 egg, beaten

Carrot Filling

400 g carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
50 g sugar
salt
25 g sour cream
2 eggs
15 - 25 g flour

Boil carrots until tender. Drain well and pat dry. Puree in a food processor, food mill or ricer. Combine sugar, salt, sour cream, eggs and flour with the carrot puree¹ and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Preparing the Dough: By Hand: In a large bowl or on a clean worksurface, sift together flour, sugar and salt then add lard. Mix the lard into the flour with your fingers until it's reasonably uniformly crumbly. Make a well and pour in the water, mixing it together until a dough begins to come together. Knead into a stiff, but rollable, dough.

Using a Food Processor: Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Pulse two or three times to sift ingredients together. Add lard in small chunks. Pulse 8 - 12 times, just until the mixture becomes crumbly. Pour in the water and pulse another 8 - 12 times until the dough forms. Remove and knead by hand for a couple of minutes until the dough is stiff and workable.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8th inch thickness. Cut out rounds with a large (4" to 5") biscuit cutter. Bring up about 1/2" of the sides to form a 1/2" rim, pleating as you go, to produce a small "dish." Pleating will enable the border to stay up and contain the carrot mixture. Arrange on a parchment or silicone-lined half sheet pan.

Preparing the pastries Spoon the carrot mixture into each little dough "dish" until it almost reaches the top. Brush each carefully with beaten egg.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the dough is crumbly and (hopefully²) the carrot filling is browned.

Notes: 1. If your carrot puree comes out overly wet, you may need more flour or to drain off a bit of the carrot juice so that it is somewhat dry. 2. We didn't get the carrot to brown before the dough had gone too far, so I still need to work out some bugs here.