In short. The Easter sweet of the Foggia area, shaped as a sheep, a dove, a basket or a ring, and covered with icing. Often with a whole egg baked into it, shell and all.
Scarcelle are made through Holy Week and given as presents. The shape is the point — every household has one it always makes.
Ingredients
- 500 g of flour
- 100 g of sugar
- 70 g of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 eggs
- half a sachet of baking powder for cakes
- 1 sachet of vanilla
- a little milk, if needed
- icing, to cover
Method
1. The dough. Heap the flour in a ring on the table. Put the sugar and eggs in the middle and work them together. Add the vanilla, the oil and the baking powder, and bring it together with a little milk if it needs it.
2. Shaping. Grease a tin, form the scarcella into the shape you want — sheep, dove, basket, ring — and bake.
3. Finishing. Cover with icing once cooled.
The egg in the middle. Many versions press a whole raw egg, still in its shell, into the dough before baking, held down by two strips of pastry in a cross. It cooks with the sweet, and it is a symbol of Easter rather than something you are expected to eat with it.
More on the desserts page.
