Fazzoletti Dolce: Sweet Kerchiefs

The Pastry

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup cold water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Rub in the cold butter with your fingers until you can no longer see the butter.
2. Pour in a few tablespoons of the cold water until it is incorporated. Cautiously add a little more water until the dough comes together. Do not add too much water.
3. On a floured surface turn the dough out and knead it to form one large ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate 4 hours or better, overnight.

The Kerchiefs

• 3 tablespoons dried cherries
• 1/2 cup kirsch, or rum
• 8 ounces quark (or whole milk ricotta if you don't have any quark)
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
• 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg and cinnamon
• pastry rolled to 1/4 inch thick, cut into 5 inch squares
• 1 egg beaten and mixed with 1 tbl. water for wash
• 1/2 cup or so cold water

1. The night before soak the cherries in the kirsch or rum.
2. After the cherries have soaked, drain them. Mix them with the quark, sugar, yolks, zest, and spice. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
3. Roll the puff pastry out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut five inch squares out of this. Fill each square with 1 rounded tablespoon of the filling. Then brush the circumference of the squares with some cold water.
4. Fold the squares in half to create a triangular shape. Keep the filling inside. Press to seal. Brush the tops with the egg wash.
5. Slash the top of each kerchief with three cuts for venting. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.