Some of my favorite Japanese pastries are Western-style sweets, ingeniously reinterpreted. Maybe it takes a certain distance from the original to come up with a fabulous derivative -working in the opposite direction, we Americans invented the California roll, and the world learned that avocado is marvelous in sushi rolls. So I guess it should be no surprise that a Japanese pastry shop can achieve a triumph with rum raisins sunk in cream between two sable cookies. It's like rum raisin ice cream (without the ice), an ice cream sandwich (only vanilla), and a French millefeuille (with raisins) all rolled into one.
Kamakura Ogawaken, which makes these treats (and may have invented them, though I'm not sure about that), has three shops around Kamakura, but the stylish rectangular boxes make their way into my Tokyo neighborhood supermarket from time to time. Once you slit the gold seal and open the box, there are ten little raisin-wiches, each in its own plastic wrapper (of course!), lined up inside. The leaflet nestled beside them boasts that the raisins are from California, the rum is Jamaican, and the eggs, butter, and flour are all natural. They're not sold refrigerated, which makes me wonder just how all-natural that cream filling is, but the leaflet does advise chilling for the best flavor. The cookies are tender and crumbly, not crisp, and the raisins are soft and sharp with their alcoholic marinade. There are a few fragments of oilskin-thin almonds on top, but these don't taste like much. It's the combination of rummy raisins, smooth cream, and rich cookie that make these such a delightful and decadent invention.
Kamakura Ogawakenshops in Kanagawa Prefecture
tel 0120-157-041
Some of my favorite Japanese pastries are Western-style sweets, ingeniously reinterpreted. Maybe it takes a certain distance from the original to come up with a fabulous derivative -working in the opposite direction, we Americans invented the California roll, and the world learned that avocado is marvelous in sushi rolls. So I guess it should be no surprise that a Japanese pastry shop can achieve a triumph with rum raisins sunk in cream between two sable cookies. It's like rum raisin ice cream (without the ice), an ice cream sandwich (only vanilla), and a French millefeuille (with raisins) all rolled into one.
Kamakura Ogawaken, which makes these treats (and may have invented them, though I'm not sure about that), has three shops around Kamakura, but the stylish rectangular boxes make their way into my Tokyo neighborhood supermarket from time to time. Once you slit the gold seal and open the box, there are ten little raisin-wiches, each in its own plastic wrapper (of course!), lined up inside. The leaflet nestled beside them boasts that the raisins are from California, the rum is Jamaican, and the eggs, butter, and flour are all natural. They're not sold refrigerated, which makes me wonder just how all-natural that cream filling is, but the leaflet does advise chilling for the best flavor. The cookies are tender and crumbly, not crisp, and the raisins are soft and sharp with their alcoholic marinade. There are a few fragments of oilskin-thin almonds on top, but these don't taste like much. It's the combination of rummy raisins, smooth cream, and rich cookie that make these such a delightful and decadent invention.
Kamakura Ogawaken
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