After trying a lower-calorie Italian dish earlier this week, Skinny Fettuccine Alfredo, I’m going in the opposite direction. I’m sticking with the cheese theme, but I’m switching from parmesan to ricotta. Specifically, ricotta-filled pastries called Soffioni Abruzzesi. Ricotta is good when it’s used in a savory dish, but I absolutely love it when there’s sugar involved. These delectable-sounding pastries have a sweet lemon-ricotta filling that I’m dying to try. Let’s get to it!
Soffioni Abruzzesi are cute little Italian cupcakes or muffins filled with fluffy Ricotta cream. They are easy to make and so delicious.
The Ingredients
I always expect pastry recipes to have a ton of ingredients, but this one does not. It has 10 ingredients, but nothing unusual or difficult to find. We’re talking basics
I had the eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and flour. That left me to do a little shopping, but not much. I love it when that happens!
The Process
Baking isn’t my specialty, so it’s not a surprise when I have some difficulties with a baking recipe. This one didn’t go perfectly, and I ended up remaking it. Here’s how it went:
- 6 minutes to make the crust
- 1 hour to chill the crust
- 27 minutes to make the filling and assemble
- 45 minutes to bake
- 2 hours 18 minutes total
This recipe is divided into manageable sections, so it didn’t seem too overwhelming even though there is a lot to it.
Making the Crust
The first part is making the crust, and this is where my trouble began. Things went well up until the part when I had to for the dough into a ball. It was very crumbly and barely held together.
Things didn’t magically improve after an hour in the refrigerator. It kept splitting as I rolled it out, and was just difficult to work with.
The second time I made the Soffioni Abruzzesi, I tried adding a tablespoon of water per the author’s suggestion (from the post comments). It helped, but not much, so I added another tablespoon of olive oil to the dough.
The extra olive oil made the dough hold together, but it was right on the edge of being too soft. It worked out, but I wish I had tried adding the oil a teaspoon at a time until the texture was right.
Making the Filling
This part went according to the instructions, but I did find a way to speed up the process on my second try. Instead of beating the egg whites after I made the egg yolk-ricotta mixture, I did them in tandem.
Putting the egg whites into my stand mixer and letting it work while I made the egg yolk-ricotta mixture saved me about 10 minutes.
Assembling the Soffioni Abruzzesi
This step was a pain the first time around, but it wasn’t so bad the second time. I think the texture of the dough was the key.
After dividing the dough into six portions, I rolled each one into a ball. That kept the shape even as I rolled out the dough, but I still trimmed it into squares just to make it look nice. It was a quick little extra that made a difference, I think.
I positioned each square over the floured muffin tin, filled them with the ricotta mixture, and gently closed the corners. Looking back, staggering the crusts would have made things easier, but grouping them together wasn’t too bad.
Baking
By this point, I thought the work was done, and I sat back and listened for the oven timer. Unfortunately, the first batch of Soffioni Abruzzesi came out extra crispy (shown below). They tasted good once I dusted them with powdered sugar (also shown below), but I wasn’t thrilled that they burned.
The second time I made the Soffioni Abruzzesi, I made sure the tops didn’t burn. I baked them per the first part of the instructions, and the edges were brown after the initial 30 minutes.
The second half of baking is just turning down the heat to 350℉. The recipe says not to open the oven door, but I broke the rules the second time around. I opened the oven door so I could place a sheet of foil over the Soffioni Abruzzesi. I didn’t tuck it in—I literally placed it on top of the muffins and quickly closed the door.
The sheet of foil kept the tops from burning like the first batch, as you can see in the main photo. This batch of Soffioni Abruzzesi was beautiful!
Hi Candice, I’d like to follow you as I do the same with pinning and recreating!
Hi Diana, Please do! There are links to all my social feeds just below this post’s main photo. I post to all at least twice a week (and here too). I’d love to see your blog too–I rarely run across anyone who blogs about trying recipes. I have so much fun with it!