Typical Sardinian sweets: flavours and scents of island cuisine
If you were to consider food as culture and cuisine as art, the typical Sardinian desserts are small, tasty and fragrant masterpieces that hold the story and identity of a culture.
The recipes of typical Sardinian desserts are of gastronomic heritage, made of knowledge and flavours, to discover and savour, to capture the essence of an island with a cosmopolitan soul but firmly linked to its origins and traditions.
The variety of typical Sardinian desserts is large, and depending on the different areas of the island, there are different versions of the same recipe. For example, Sardinian seadas, known all over the world and also called sebada, sevada, savada and sevata, can be prepared with either cooked cheese or raw cheese, and in the second case, they are called sa mandrona which means “in the manner of the armchair” named after an easier preparation and therefore suitable for lazy people.
Let’s have a look at 10 typical Sardinian dessert recipes handed down from generation to generation.
Typical Sardinian desserts: 10 recipes of the island’s confectionery tradition
Here are ten recipes to bring to the table all the taste of the typical Sardinian desserts:
1) Seadas
Ingredients for the dough
• 500 g durum wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 70 g lard
• 250 g warm water
Ingredients for the filling
• 500 g fresh pecorino cheese
• 70 g water
• 1 lemon zest
• chestnut honey to taste
Procedure
Place the sifted flour into a bowl, add the whole egg, pour in warm water and begin to knead. Add the lard little by little and continue to knead. When the dough is compact enough, transfer it to a lightly floured pastry board and work it until you get a smooth and elastic dough. Then wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
For the filling, grate the pecorino cheese and transfer it to a pan with the water. Melt the cheese over low heat, stirring constantly and, once ready, aromatize it with grated lemon zest before turning it out onto a board and spreading it out with the help of a spatula.
Let it firm and then obtain about 10-12 discs using a round pastry ring with a diameter of 10 cm.
Roll the dough out by hand or with a pasta machine until you get a sheet of about 3 mm thick. Place the cheese discs on half of the pastry and cover with the remaining pastry, making sure to adhere the dough well around the filling and remove any air bubbles. With a corrugated-edged cake tin, about 10 cm in diameter, cut out the seadas which you will then cook for a couple of minutes in sunflower oil at 170.
Dry the excess oil, transfer the seadas to a serving dish and garnish with chestnut honey when they are still hot.
2) Pàrdulas
Ingredients for the dough
• 200 g semolina
• 100 g water
• 30 g lard
Ingredients for the filling
• 60 g semolina
• 500 g sheep milk cheese
• 100 g sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 0,25 g saffron
• 1 orange peel
• 1 lemon zest
To brush and garnish
• 1 egg yolk
• whole milk to taste
• powdered sugar to taste
Procedure
Drain the ricotta overnight or at least a few hours before preparing the Pardulas. Pour the semolina and lard into a bowl and begin to work the mixture that will turn into a crumbled dough, pour in the water and continue to knead and compact the dough. Once ready, wrap it in cling film and leave to rest at room temperature.
For the filling, pour the well-drained ricotta cheese into a bowl and add the sugar. Mix the two ingredients and incorporate the egg yolks first, then the semolina, saffron and finally the grated lemon and orange peel. Mix everything and store it in the fridge.
Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until you get a sheet about 1 millimetre thick, and then make some disks with a 10 cm diameter pastry ring. Place a generous spoonful of filling in the centre of each disc and close the sheet all around, pinching it at the ends with your fingertips to get small baskets with eight tips.
Place the pardulas on a lollipop lined with parchment paper and brush the surface with the beaten yolk and mix with a drop of milk. Bake in a static oven at 150 degrees for about 40 minutes and, after having taken them out of the oven, let cool the pardulas before dusting with powdered sugar.
3) Papassini
Ingredients for the dough
• 500 g flour 00
• 200 g lard
• 200 g sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 80 g whole milk
• 130 g peeled almonds
• 130 g raisins
• 2 g almond extract
• 1 g ammonia for cakes
Ingredients for the icing
• 150 g powdered sugar
• 2 egg whites
• Codette colouring to taste
Procedure
Soak the raisins in water. Toast the almonds and chop coarsely. Pour the ammonia into the warm milk and mix. Drain the raisins.
For the dough put flour, sugar, lard in a bowl and begin to work the mixture with your hands. Then incorporate the eggs, the almond extract, the milk mixed with ammonia and continue to knead. Add the toasted and chopped almonds and raisins. Knead until you get a ball that will then be wrapped in cling film and left to rest in the fridge for about an hour.
When time is up, reopen the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured pastry board until you get a sheet of 1 cm thickness. Make diamond shapes with the help of a pastry ring and work the scraps of dough until the dough is exhausted. Place the cookies on a tray lined with baking paper and cook in a static oven preheated to 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.
While the papassini are baking, we can prepare the icing. Place the egg whites in a bowl together with powdered sugar and whip the ingredients with electric beaters until you get a thick and easily spreadable mixture, with which to cover the biscuits once ready. Garnish with the coloured sprinkles before the icing dries.
4) Amaretti Sardi
Ingredients
• 500 g almonds
• 50 g bitter almonds
• 500 g sugar
• 6 egg whites
• 1 glass of sweet liqueur
• 2 lemon zest
For decoration
• granulated sugar
• almonds
Procedure
Chop the almonds with a food processor until you get a mixture, not too fine, which will be mixed with sugar, grated lemon zest and liqueur. Mix the ingredients well and add the egg whites after lightly beating them with a whisk but without making them foam. Knead with your hands until you get a wet and solid dough. If the dough is too dry, add an egg white, on the contrary, if too soft other almonds. Slightly wet your hands with liquor and make balls the size of a walnut, roll them in the granulated sugar and place a whole almond in the centre. Place the macaroons on a baking tray covered with hoven paper, well-spaced because during cooking the volume increases.
Cook for about 15-20 minutes at 160 degrees. Let them cool before serving.
5) Pistoccus
Ingredients
• 6 eggs
• 150 g flour 00
• 160 g sugar
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 pinch of salt
• powdered sugar
Procedure
Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and beat the first until stiff with half of the sugar. In another bowl, work the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar and the grated lemon zest until you get a “runny” compound. Add the egg whites to the egg yolks by mixing the two ingredients with gentle movements from bottom to top and gradually add the sifted flour without stopping to mix. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag and cover the oven tray with a sheet of baking paper. Make the biscuits (the pistoccus are similar to ladyfingers), which must be about 8 cm long and 3 cm broad, and distance them so that they do not touch each other while cooking.
Sprinkle the biscuits with icing sugar and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.
6) Su pappai biancu (Sardinian pudding)
Ingredients
• 1 l whole milk
• 200 g sugar
• 100 g starch
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1-2 tablespoons orange flower water
Procedure
Dissolve the starch in a glass of milk. In a saucepan, pour the remaining milk, sugar, vanilla pod, orange blossom water and the grated rind of a lemon. Cook over low heat and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the milk begins to simmer. Then pour the milk in which the starch has been dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir gently.
When the mixture is well mixed and not too hot, pour it into a ceramic mould wet with cold water. Alternatively, you can also use single-dose moulds. Allow to cool at room temperature and then refrigerate for a few hours. Before serving Su pappai biancu decorate it with warm honey, berries or candied oranges.
7) On pan’e saba
Ingredients
• 400 g flour
• 100 g sugar
• ½ l of sapa (grape syrup obtained from the freshly prepared must of white or red grapes after prolonged boiling in a copper boiler, low heat)
• 600 g raisins
• 600 g roasted almonds
• 100 g of hazelnuts
• 100 g pine nuts
• 2 macaroons
• 3 tablespoons chopped orange peel
• cinnamon
• cloves and cloves
• coloured devils
Procedure
Soak the raisins to soften them. Chop the almonds, hazelnuts, macaroons and pine nuts. In a bowl, add the ingredients to the sapa, add the grated orange peel, cloves, cinnamon and raisins cut into small pieces. Mix and leave to rest in the fridge for about 2-3 hours. Then, take the mixture and cook over slow heat adding flour and sugar until you get a thick and homogeneous dough. Once cooled, work the mixture with your hands and create balls to give the shape of a small doughnut. Let the doughnuts dry for about two or three days in a protected environment, and then cook in the oven for about 10 minutes. Decorate with hundreds and thousands.
8) Tiliccas de saba
Ingredients for the dough
• 500 g flour 00
• 100 g lard
• 100 ml of lukewarm water
Ingredients for the filling Su pistiddu
• 250 g added semolina
• 150 g toasted and chopped almonds
• 500 ml saba
• 1 orange peel
Procedure
In a saucepan, pour the saba and cook over low heat. As soon as it starts to simmer, add the chopped semolina, almonds and the grated zest of an orange. Mix with a wooden spoon, and when the mixture begins to detach from the parts, turn off and let cool.
For the dough mix in a bowl the flour, lard and warm water until you get a compact, smooth and soft mixture that will have to rest for about an hour in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap. When time is up, roll out the dough with the help of a rolling pin or pasta machine until you get a very thin sheet. Use a serrated washer to obtain strips of about 20 x 5 cm and, using a pastry bag, pour the centre on pistiddu. Close the sheet in such a way as to form a cylinder and shape the tiliccas de saba giving the shape you prefer. Place the tiliccas on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake at 160# for about 15-20 minutes.
9) Acciuleddi
Ingredients
• 500 g flour
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g lard
• 1 egg
• water
Ingredients for the icing
• 300 g of honey
• 1 orange peel
• coloured devils to taste
Procedure
In a bowl pour the flour, lard, sugar, egg and knead. Add a little ‘water until you get a soft but compact dough that will have to rest in the fridge for about half an hour wrapped in cling film. After that time, pull the dough out from the fridge and create thin sticks about 10-15 cm long. Fold each stick on itself and twist it.
Fry the Acciuleddi in hot sunflower oil until completely browned and let them dry on absorbent kitchen paper. Heat the honey in a large pan together with the orange peel and when it is hot and well-melted turn off the flame. Pour the Acciuleddi into the pot and mix with a wooden spoon to make sure that they are all covered with honey. Finally, decorate with hundreds and thousands.
10) Zippulas (or Cattas or Frisjoli)
Ingredients
• 500 g flour
• 250 g milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 orange peel
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 sachet of saffron
• 4 g dry yeast
• 100 g sugar
• 800 g peanut oil
Procedure
Put in a bowl the sifted flour, the dry yeast, the saffron powder, the grated lemon and orange peel and the previously beaten eggs. Mix the ingredients and add the milk until you get a sticky, hydrated dough that will have to stand for about three hours in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. After the leavening time, the dough will have doubled its volume and you can begin to form the zeppole. With your hands moistened with water, take a piece of dough and make small doughnuts with a large hole. Place the doughnuts in hot oil and leave them to cook until golden.
Drain the zippulas with a skimming ladle and lay them on a plate covered with paper towels to dry the excess oil. Finally, pass the zeppole in the granulated sugar and serve them hot. During the preparation of the dough, you can also add a tablespoon of filu and ferru or the Sardinian brandy.
