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Melitinia
Melitinia: Santorini's small Easter cups of mastic-scented sweet cheese
Santorini's Easter sweet is melitinia: small, thin pastry cups pinched around a soft filling of fresh cheese, sugar and mastic, baked until the tops crack and turn golden. Islanders bake trays of them on Holy Saturday and offer them on Easter Sunday with coffee, and their resinous, piney mastic perfume sets them apart from cheese pastries elsewhere in Greece. Fresh mizithra is the island cheese; ricotta, usually rennet-free, is a good substitute. Common mistake: grinding mastic on its own, which makes it gum up; always crush it with a spoon of sugar. Chef's tip: roll the pastry very thin, about 2 mm, so it bakes crisp around the creamy filling.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 15
Ingredients
For the pastry
For the filling
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What you'll need
Spices & pantry
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 12 ½ oz plain flour, ½ tsp baking powder and 1 oz caster sugar, then add 2 ⅞ oz butter, 1 egg and ½ cup milk and knead briefly to a soft, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
25 minStep 2: Beat 1 ⅛ lb fresh mizithra or ricotta with 4 oz caster sugar and the crushed ½ tsp mastic tears until smooth, then beat in 2 eggs and 2 tbsp cornflour. The mixture should be thick and creamy.
Step 3: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan) and line two trays with baking paper. Roll the dough out 2 mm thick and cut 9 cm rounds.
Step 4: Put a heaped tablespoon of filling on each round. Pinch the edge up all round into little pleats, like a crown, so the pastry forms a cup with the filling showing.
Step 5: Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling has risen and cracked with brown patches.
25 minStep 6: Cool on a rack and dust with ½ tsp ground cinnamon if you like. Keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does melitinia take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 45 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 15 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- 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 baking powder?
- ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda + ½ tsp cream of tartar per 1 tsp.
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