The figolli can be prepared up to 3 weeks in advance… if you can wait that long to taste them!
You will need:
For the pastry
Lamb Brand Plain Flour 1kg
Lamb Brand Icing Sugar 300g
Lamb Brand Baking Powder 2 tsp
Butter or Maragarine 450g
Egg Yolks 6
Juice of 2 oranges
Zest of 2 oranges
Zest of 2 lemons
For the almond filling
Lamb Brand Pure Ground Almonds 800g
Lamb Brand Icing Sugar 640g
Egg Whites 5-6
Lemon Zest 3
Vanilla Essence 1 tsp
You will also need marzipan, icing and chocolate to decorate the figolli.
All you have to do is:
1. Start this recipe by preparing the pastry and the almond filling.
2. To make the pastry, sift together the flour, baking powder and icing sugar in a large bowl.
3. Add the butter or margerine and rub with your fingers till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Add the lemon and orange zest, the fresh orange juice and egg yolks and mix together till you have a smooth soft pastry.
5. Wrap up the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, you can also prepare the almond filling.
7. Place all the ingredients together in a large bowl and bind together with your hands to form a soft marzipan.
8. Make sure the mixture is not sticky.
9. Once the pasty has chilled, and you have prepared the almond filling you can start preparing the figolli.
10. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface, to a thickness of about 3/4cm.
11. Using shaped figolli cutters, cut figolli shapes out of the pastry (you will need 2 pastry shapes for each figolla).
12. Carefully place the figolli pastry shapes on baking trays covered with greaseproof paper.
13. Next, you need to roll out the almond filling, the same as the pastry, cutting out one shape per figolla.
14. Brush ½ of the pastry shapes lightly with water, and cover each piece with the almond filling.
15. Brush the almond filling lightly with water and cover with the remaining pastry shapes.
16. Each figolla will end up with a pastry top and bottom, with the layer of almond in the middle.
17. Bake the figolli in the oven at 180oC, for 35-40 minutes, depending on their size.
18. When the figolli are cooked, remove the baking trays from the oven and allow the figolli to cool down completely before removing them of the baking trays.
19. For best results, decorate the figolli the following day, using chocolate, marzipan, icing and silver dredges.