Pan Meino

Small Lombard maize-flour buns scented with dried elderflower.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 200 g fine maize flour
• 150 g plain flour
• 120 g butter, soft
• 120 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons dried elderflowers
• 8 g baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 80 ml milk
• caster sugar, to scatter

Method

1. USE FINE MAIZE FLOUR, not polenta meal. Coarse grains stay gritty in a bun this small however long it bakes.
2. Rub the elderflowers between your palms to break them up and release their scent.
3. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, then fold in both flours, the baking powder, salt, elderflowers and milk to a soft, slightly crumbly mixture.
4. Rest it 30 minutes so the maize flour hydrates.
5. Spoon rough mounds the size of a walnut onto lined trays, well apart, and scatter sugar over.
6. Bake at 180C for 16 minutes until set and barely coloured. They stay pale and sandy rather than browning.
7. The elderflower is what the bun is for, so do not leave it out and do not substitute vanilla. Serve them with lightly whipped cream to dip them in.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes