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Graciosa Sweets

Graciosa Rice Pastries

Graciosa rice pastries: thin half-moon pastries filled with rice, sugar syrup, almonds and egg yolks, baked pale. A must on Graciosa's Christmas table.

Makes
30 pieces
Prep
1h
Cooking
1h
Waiting
9h
Difficulty
Hard

Rice pastries are a sweet from Graciosa that no Christmas table on the island goes without: thin half-moons of pastry filled with a cream of rice, sugar syrup, almonds and egg yolks, baked in the oven without browning.

The filling is made the day before and the pastries are assembled the next day, brushed with butter and dusted with sugar before baking.

Method

  1. The day before, boil the rice in lightly salted water until it falls apart, then drain and mash it to a purée.

  2. In a pan, boil the sugar with the 150 ml of water until the syrup reaches the pearl stage.

  3. Give the syrup a few minutes to cool, stir in the rice purée and cook over a low heat, stirring, until a little thicker.

  4. Stir in the almonds and let it bubble again.

  5. Move the pan off the heat, beat in the egg yolks, then return it to the heat, stirring constantly, until it just starts to boil.

  6. Let the filling cool and keep it covered until the next day.

  7. The next day, put the flour, butter, sugar and egg yolks in a bowl and knead, working in the lukewarm water a little at a time, until the dough is smooth and soft. Cover with a cloth and leave to rest for 1 hour.

  8. Heat the oven to 170 °C and butter a baking tray.

  9. Roll the dough out very thinly. Place small mounds of filling along it, fold the dough over, cut out half-moons and press the edges firmly to seal.

  10. Arrange the pastries on the tray, brush them with melted butter and dust with icing sugar.

  11. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the pastry is cooked but still pale, then lift the pastries off the tray carefully, as they are fragile.

Tips

  • Use Carolino or another short-grain rice, which breaks down well into a creamy purée.
  • The pearl stage is when the syrup forms a small bead at the tip of the spoon; if it goes further, the filling will be hard.
  • Add the yolks off the heat and then warm the mixture only until it comes to the boil, so they do not curdle.
  • Watch the oven: the pastries should stay pale, with the pastry just cooked.

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