Petrali – Christmas Cookies from Calabria
These look so festive and have a yum fig and nut filling which you can chop as coarse or as fine as you prefer. They are very “more-ish” so if you want them out of sight, they keep well in an air tight tin. If they seem Sicilian, bear in mind that apart from sharing climate and geography, Calabria and Sicily were both first Greek then part of the Kingdom of Sicily, later Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, so they have many centuries of shared history which is reflected in their respective cuisines.
To make about 50 Petrali
For the pastry you will need:
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
a stick of butter
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. Baking powder
grated zest of a lemon
For the filling you will need :
¾ cup soft dried figs
½ cup shelled almonds, peeled and toasted
½ cup shelled walnuts, toasted
3 tbsp. candied citrus peel, ideally of real Mandarin orange
grated zest of an orange
2 tbsp honey
A small glass of sweet dessert wine or dry Marsala
For decorating:
An egg white
Dark chocolate, butter, water
A packet of multi-coloured candy sprinkles
How you make the filling
Cut the hard stem tip off the figs, quarter and place in a small saucepan of boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove, pat dry and chop small.
Chop the toasted almond and walnuts as small as you prefer. I do it by hand but a processor is fine too.
In a bowl mix together the chopped figs and nuts, add the honey and Marsala and stir to mix.
Add the candied citrus peel and the orange zest and mix well.
Place the mixture to simmer on low heat for 5 minutes, then take off the heat and leave to macerate. The longer the better but an absolute minimum of 3 hours. Overnight or over 3 days is better still.
*You may want to make a double quantity and store in the fridge, then when you fancy some freshly made cookies you only need make the dough and the filling is ready and waiting.
How you make the pastry
Mix the egg and egg yolk with sugar.
Sieve the flour with the baking powder.
Cut in the cold butter using two knives at first so as to keep everything cold, then lightly rub in till the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
Make a well in the centre and add the egg and lemon zest and quickly combine into a dough.
Leave to rest overnight if you can, though you can also use the dough after a short 30 minute rest in the fridge.
How you make the cookies
Roll out the dough on a well floured sheet of greaseproof paper.
Use an espresso coffee cup or a cutter to stamp out 3 inch diameter rounds. Place a spoonful of the filling to one side and fold over to make half moon pastries.
Brush some of them with egg white and sprinkle with the candy sprinkles.
Bake at 350 ° C for about 25 minutes or till lightly golden.
Allow to cool completely.
How you make the chocolate glaze
Melt 1 ½ oz dark chocolate with a pat of butter and 1 tbsp of water and brush this over the remaining Petrali.
Scatter with candy sprinkles and leave several hours for the chocolate glaze to dry well.
