Pardulas
Description
Pardulas are typical Sardinian cakes that are usually baked at Easter.
They are small cakes made with a semolina and lard outer layer, stuffed with a ricotta and saffron cream; the saffron gives the cream its classic yellow colour, which makes pardulas look like small suns.
If, during the Easter period, you like to bring typical desserts to your table to impress your guests, try making pardulas by following this recipe: your guests will thank you immediately!
Ingredients
to recalculate the ingredient amounts
For the dough
- Semolina 260 g
- Lard 30 g
- Egg whites 2
For the filling
- Fresh ricotta 500 g
- Egg yolks 2
- Zest of lemon 1
- Zest of orange 1
- Saffron 1 bustine
- Sugar 100 g
Instructions
Tips
-
1
The first step in making pardulas is to let the ricotta drain so that it doesn’t release its whey during cooking. Place it in a strainer so as to extract the whey. If you have time, you can do this the evening before baking.
-
2
Now it’s time to prepare the dough that will form the base of your pardulas. Place the semolina on a pastry board, add the lard and mix the two ingredients until they start to crumble; at this point, add two egg whites. Keep mixing until you obtain a smooth and compact dough that you will put in a bowl covered with film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.
-
3
Now prepare the ricotta cream for the filling: take the ricotta you left to drain and place it in a bowl with the sugar, then use a whisk to combine the ingredients. Add the two egg yolks, flour, saffron and the lemon and orange zest. Stir and put the cream in the fridge.
-
4
Take your dough and roll it out with a rolling pin until you obtain a 2mm thickness. With a pasta cutter make some discs 8-10cm in diameter. Place a generous spoonful of ricotta cream in the middle of every disc. Then, with your left hand hold the cake and with your right hand pinch the sides at evenly spaced intervals to form a sort of basket in which the pastry shell adheres to the filling.
-
5
Place your pardulas on a tray lined with baking paper, keeping a fair distance between each one. Mix one yolk and two spoonfuls of milk in a bowl and brush the surface of the cakes with the resulting mixture.
-
6
Cook the pardulas in the pre-heated oven at 150° for around 40 minutes. When ready, let them cool and dust them liberally with icing sugar.
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Variations
Pardula are small
discs
filled with ricotta and saffron
, flavored with
grated orange or lemon zest
, and wrapped in a small ring of hand-rolled violada pasta. Violada pasta is a mixture of semolina,
warm water
, and lard (or oil) used in many Sardinian dishes, such as
seadas
and panade.
Due to the variety of uses or otherwise of certain ingredients, there are
numerous regional variations of the traditional pardulas
. In addition to the best-known recipe,
“pardulas de arrescottu,”
there are variations based on the production area . The
ricotta base
, for example, is often replaced with
fresh cheese
. In these cases, they are called
“pardulas de casu”
or
“casadinas,”
depending on the dialect, or, in Italian,
formaggelle
.
Sometimes, the variation in Pardulas depends solely on the shape or the consistency of the filling . If the filling is soft and fluffy, we’ll be faced with the classic rounded pardulas, while if, on the contrary, the dough is more compact , we’ll be faced with the classic casadina.
Other recipes, finally, add sultanas or parsley to the filling.
Did You Know?
The history of Pardulas has something in common with other traditional sweets: originally prepared to celebrate certain religious holidays, they are now enjoyed throughout the year, from Easter to Carnival, even though they are traditionally Easter sweets.
In ancient times, pardulas appear to have been wedge-shaped rather than their current round form , and were called “padruas a coccoi.” They were cooked during Easter, and their preparation was associated with the phases of the moon, which perhaps gave rise to their characteristic shape.
Another curious story about pardulas links them to Antonio Gramsci. They are mentioned in a letter he wrote to his family while in prison, where he wrote: ” I’m sure we’ll all see each other again, children, grandchildren, and perhaps, who knows, great-grandchildren, and we’ll have a great lunch with culurgiones and pardulas .”
Traditional Sardinian desserts
don’t include chocolate chips, but you can add them to make this dessert even more delicious.
There are different ways to fill the pastry shell: you can do it by spoonfuls, or by creating little balls and placing them inside the shell, to make the pardulas shape more puffy.
Pardulas are a perfect dessert to pair with a still white wine. The sweet,
mellow
flavor of pardulas pairs perfectly with the dry, fruity flavor of the wine.
