If you’ve ever been to Lecce, you may have noticed that the typical breakfast doesn’t include the classic croissant but a delicious and fragrant , to be eaten strictly warm: the pasticciotto! Pasticciotti are symbols of Salento pastry and consist of a crispy shortcrust pastry shell with a custard filling; the most common variant includes a delicious cherry filling and we tried both versions: they are delicious! The traditional recipe calls for the pasticciotti’s shortcrust pastry to be made with lard; our recipe, we used classic shortcrust pastry with butter. Pasticciotti are fragrant little sweets that seem to encapsulate all the color and warmth of the Salento sun!
For a maxi version, also try our pasticciotto cake!
To make the pasticciotti, start by preparing the custard (click here for the recipe card): heat the milk over low heat with the opened vanilla bean. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks well with the sugar 1 and add the sifted flour. Then, add this mixture to the milk 2 and stir constantly over low heat with a whisk. Let the custard thicken and cool 3 the refrigerator with a piece of plastic wrap contact.
Meanwhile, prepare the shortcrust pastry using the instructions you can find here: put the flour and cold butter the miscelatore 4 and blend to obtain a sandy and floury mixture, which you will transfer to a work surface. Add the sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and egg yolks 5 and quickly knead everything until you get a compact and fairly elastic dough 6. Wrap the shortcrust pastry plastic wrap and let it rest the fridge for at least half an hour.
After the shortcrust pastry has rested, roll it out acceso a floured surface 7 with a rolling pin, so that it is about a quarter-inch thick. Line all the molds, already buttered and floured, with the pastry (8-9).
Insert 2 teaspoons of custard each mold 10 and, if you like, a cherry 11. Cover the mold with the remaining shortcrust pastry and trim chiuso the excess dough so that the edges are well squared 12.
Beat one egg yolk with a couple of tablespoons of milk ora cream and brush the surface of the pasticciotti 13. Place the molds acceso a baking sheet 14 and bake them a preheated oven at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. When the pasticciotti are golden brown 15take them out, let them cool , and enjoy them still warm!
For the translation of some texts, artificial intelligence tools may have been used.