Pasticciotti Casalinghi: These are holiday cookies filled with jam. So imagine my delight when Annita posted a recipe on the forum! Her pasticciotti recipe was in Italian, so I've translated it, together with her observations, and here it is.
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 34 minutes
Ingredients:
- 5 cups (600 g) flour
- A packet of vanilla-laced cake yeast (see explantation below)
- 1 cup (200 g) unsalted butter or rendered lard
- 3-4 egg yolks
- 2 cups (200 g) sugar
- Amarena cherry jam
Preparation:
Home made pasticciotti (about 20)
Sift 5 cups (600 g) flour with a packet of vanilla laced cake yeast (this is essentially baking powder with a little vanillin; packets weigh 15 grams, which is about 3-4 teaspoons).
Cream 1 cup (200 g) unsalted butter or rendered lard and combine it with the flour.
Next, work 3-4 yolks and 3 cups (600 g) of sugar into the dough.
Make the dough into about 40 balls the size of a walnut, flatten them on a floured work surface, and spread the middle of half of them with fairly thick cherry (amarena, specifically) jam.
Cover with the remaining disks, pressing down around the edges to make sure they stick.
Preheat your oven to 300 F (150 C). Line a cookie sheet with oven paper. Brush the tops of the cookies with lightly beaten egg white, and bake them for 20-25 minutes. Cool them on a rack, and dust them with powdered sugar when cold.
Note: The original recipe calls for, instead of baking powder, 5 grams of bicarbonate (a teaspoon) mixed into a tablespoon of warm milk and combined with 15 grams (3 tablespoons) cream of tartar, which is then worked into the dough. I've tried making them like this too and there isn't much of a difference.
Other option: Fill them with a thick pastry cream. Don't try Nutella, because it dries out and becomes horrible. Other jams are of course fine, as is candied citron. That's it!
For what it's worth, in pastry shops these now cost at least 2500 Lire each... (a bit more than a Dollar)
Annita
Sift 5 cups (600 g) flour with a packet of vanilla laced cake yeast (this is essentially baking powder with a little vanillin; packets weigh 15 grams, which is about 3-4 teaspoons).
Cream 1 cup (200 g) unsalted butter or rendered lard and combine it with the flour.
Next, work 3-4 yolks and 3 cups (600 g) of sugar into the dough.
Make the dough into about 40 balls the size of a walnut, flatten them on a floured work surface, and spread the middle of half of them with fairly thick cherry (amarena, specifically) jam.
Cover with the remaining disks, pressing down around the edges to make sure they stick.
Preheat your oven to 300 F (150 C). Line a cookie sheet with oven paper. Brush the tops of the cookies with lightly beaten egg white, and bake them for 20-25 minutes. Cool them on a rack, and dust them with powdered sugar when cold.
Note: The original recipe calls for, instead of baking powder, 5 grams of bicarbonate (a teaspoon) mixed into a tablespoon of warm milk and combined with 15 grams (3 tablespoons) cream of tartar, which is then worked into the dough. I've tried making them like this too and there isn't much of a difference.
Other option: Fill them with a thick pastry cream. Don't try Nutella, because it dries out and becomes horrible. Other jams are of course fine, as is candied citron. That's it!
For what it's worth, in pastry shops these now cost at least 2500 Lire each... (a bit more than a Dollar)
Annita
