Skip to content

Gizzada

Crisp pinched-crust tarts filled with sticky, spiced brown-sugar coconut

Gizzada (also called 'pinch-me-round') is a little Jamaican tart with a crisp, crimped crust and a chewy filling of grated coconut cooked with brown sugar, nutmeg and ginger. It's sold in bakeries and roadside stalls across Jamaica; the name is thought to come from the Portuguese 'queijada', brought by Portuguese Jewish settlers. Eat it with a cup of tea or as an afternoon treat. Chef's tip: cook the coconut filling until it's sticky and almost dry, with no syrup pooling in the pan. A wet filling soaks into the pastry and the crust goes soft instead of crisp.
Total time
60 min
Difficulty
medium
Serves
12
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves12

For the pastry

For the coconut filling

Shop this recipe on Amazon

What you'll need

Fresh ingredients (3)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/7 done
  1. Step 1: Make the pastry: mix 9 oz plain flour and ¼ tsp salt, then rub in 4 ½ oz cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs. Sprinkle in 4 tbsp ice-cold water a spoonful at a time, stirring with a knife, until the dough just holds together. Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

    20 min
  2. Step 2: Meanwhile, put 9 oz freshly grated coconut, 5 ½ oz dark brown sugar, ½ cup water, 1 tsp fresh ginger, ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground cinnamon and 1 pinch salt in a saucepan. Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring often, for 12–15 minutes, until the sugar has melted and been absorbed and the mixture is sticky, glossy, dark and almost dry; when you drag a spoon through, the pan should stay clear.

    14 min
  3. Step 3: Stir in ½ oz butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract and leave to cool.

  4. Step 4: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). Roll the pastry out about 3 mm thick and cut 12 circles 10 cm across.

  5. Step 5: Pinch up the edge of each circle all the way round to make a raised, frilly wall about 1.5 cm high: pinch a fold between thumb and forefinger, move along a little and pinch again, like crimping a pie. This 'pinch-me-round' crust is what holds the filling. Set them on a lined baking tray.

  6. Step 6: Fill each case with about 1½ tbsp of the coconut, pressing it in gently. Don't overfill above the walls.

  7. Step 7: Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden at the edges and the coconut is lightly toasted on top. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then on a rack; the crust crisps further as it cools.

    23 min

Nutrition per serving

Calories
250 kcal
Protein
2 g
Carbs
28 g
Fat
15 g
Fibre
3 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does gizzada take?
About 60 minutes in total: 35 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegetarian?
Yes. It has no meat or fish.
What can I use instead of plain flour?
Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
What can I use instead of cold butter?
The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Moist banana bread

The blacker the bananas, the better the loaf. This one is mixed in a single bowl with melted butter and a little brown sugar, so it's soft, deeply banana-y and keeps well for days.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ma'amoul

Ma'amoul are delicate shortbread-like pastries made for Eid and Easter across the Middle East. A soft, rose-scented butter dough is wrapped around a filling of dates, walnuts, almonds and pistachios cooked with cinnamon, marked with a fork, baked pale and dusted with icing sugar. Makes 35; they keep well in a tin.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarte au sucre lilloise

In Lille and across the Nord, a sugar tart is not pastry at all but a flat round of soft brioche dough, dimpled and covered with brown cassonade sugar, butter and a little egg and cream, which bakes into a sticky, caramelised top over a fluffy base. Families buy it from the boulangerie for Sunday breakfast and goûter, or bake one when guests come for coffee. The Nord's own beet sugar, vergeoise, gives it a deep, almost molasses flavour; soft dark brown sugar is the closest swap. Chef's tip: press deep dimples into the risen dough with your fingertips before adding the topping; the sugar and cream collect in them and bake into little pools of caramel.

by KrazyBadal 0 views