Pasticciotto Leccese

Small lard-pastry shells of crema, eaten warm from the oven.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains lard.

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 200 g lard, cold and diced
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs and 2 yolks
• zest of 1 lemon
• 8 g baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 600 ml whole milk
• 5 egg yolks, for the crema
• 150 g caster sugar, for the crema
• 50 g plain flour, for the crema
• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Method

1. LARD, NOT BUTTER. It is what gives the shell its sandy, almost crumbly bite and lets it stay crisp against a wet filling — butter pastry here goes soft within the hour.
2. Rub the cold lard into the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and zest, bind with the eggs and yolks, and chill 1 hour.
3. Make a thick crema with the milk, yolks, sugar and flour, boiling it a full minute to cook the flour out, and COOL IT COMPLETELY with film on the surface.
4. Line small oval moulds with pastry, pressing it up the sides.
5. Fill with cold crema to just below the rim, lay a pastry lid on, and SEAL BY PRESSING THE EDGES AND TRIMMING FLUSH WITH THE MOULD. A lid that overhangs lifts in the oven and the crema comes out.
6. Brush with egg and bake at 190C for 20 minutes until deep gold.
7. EAT THEM WARM, within half an hour of coming out. Cold they are a decent pastry; warm, with the crema still loose inside, they are the thing itself.

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