Jam Filled Ricotta Pastries – Little Big H

Pastry

• 200 g (7oz) butter; softened
• 300 g (10 1/2oz) fresh ricotta cheese
• 300 g (10 1/2oz) plain all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
• pinch of salt

Filling

• Strawberry jam
• *optional – icing sugar to dust on top

• Add the butter and ricotta to a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Add the sifted flour, baking powder, vanilla essence, orange blossom water and a pinch of salt. Tip out onto a bench and knead together with your hands until the mixture comes together into a soft ball of pastry. (If not wanting to do it by hand, I have made this recipe in my Kitchenaid with a dough hook attached, it works out perfectly)
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
• Pre-heat oven to 180 C/350 F. Roll out pastry with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, to a thickness of about 3mm, and into 10cm (4inch) squares.
• Put a heaped teaspoon of strawberry jam in the middle of each square and pinch the opposite ends together with a little water.
• Line an oven tray with baking paper and bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm or cold, and dust with icing sugar if using.

If the pastry feel a little wet just give the bench and your hands a good dust before rolling out it out.
Why not alternate the flavours and try strawberry jam, apricot jam, fresh fruit or even chocolate. It’s a great excuse to try all the flavours 🙂 Adapted from Twelve – a Tuscan cookbook by Tessa Kiros