Figolla is a traditional Maltese treat made of sweet pastry and pure ground almonds. It is a very popular treat in Easter time and one can easily make his own at home following this step-by-step recipe. The figolla comes in different shapes so large cookie cutters are used to cut into the sweet pastry (see below link for our no-fail sweet pastry recipe) and create the shape you fancy. Then the cut shapes are filled with an almond mixture and baked for around 30 minutes. This process is best to be prepared a day in advance of decorating. When figolla is cooled completely, it can be decorated in either icing or melted chocolate as you wish.
For Sweet Pastry recipe click here
Ingredients for the filling
- 250g pure ground almonds
- 200g sugar
- 1 egg whites
- almond essence
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- juice of 1/2 lemon
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling pin
- Figolli/Cookie cutters
- Pastry brush
- Baking paper
Method
- Pre heat oven gas mark 4-5
- Mix together almonds and sugar. Beat well the egg whites and add to almond/sugar mix. Combine well together.
- Add almond essence and add a tiny bit of water if mixture is too hard.
- Dust your kitchen top and rolling pin with flour so when opening the dough it won’t stick.
- Prepare figolli cutters and cut through the dough 2 times of the same shape.
- Paste one of the shapes with the almond mixture leaving the edges empty and brush some water so when placing the other shape on top it will stick properly and no filling will come out when cooking.
- Place in oven and bake for around 30 mins.
- When ready, leave to cool completely and decorate with chocolate or icing. Best is to decorate the next day.
If you have some left over filling, make use of it and bake some almond biscuits. Roll the mixture into small balls, put an almond or a cherry on top and bake for around 15 mins at 170C.
