Sfogliatelle Adventure with Karen

Karen and I had a meet-up in her new refurbished kitchen and Karen suggested that we make Sfogliatelle, apparently the symbolic dessert of Naples, Italy.

We used this recipe from Nonna Box [the same ingredients show up on most Google recipe searches].
Some of the instructions were vague, and I'll add my comments in the photo essay that follows.

The Dough.

Dough, before kneading.

Karen kneaded
and kneaded
and kneaded.
"Then gradually add water," says the recipe
We added too little too slowly.

After 1.5 hours (WAY too long), we were finally happy with the dough's texture.
We were mistaken!

First strip of dough after running it through the pasta attachment on the Kitchenaid. 

Four strips completed.

Rolling up the dough "sausage shape" [burrito].

The dough had to rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours. We ate snacks and then made the filling.

The Filling.

We substituted chopped dried apricots for the candied orange peel.

The Assembly.

Cross sections of "burrito"

Slicing into 1cm rounds

"Use your fingers, greased with lard or butter, to make an impression on the center to create a cone shape." 

What does this mean? We did the best that we could. We had no Nonna to boss us around.

Our best guesses.

The Baking.

"...bake the pastries for about 30 minutes"
Are they done yet? I don't think so, what do you think?

15 minutes later...

The Finale.

Embellishing with powdered sugar.
They looked OK.
Alas, the taste was underwhelming -- after all that work, we wanted spectacular!

We tried dousing them with glazed strawberries.
It didn't help.

The Verdict.
The filling was great. The dough came out too tough and had a blah flavor.
Will reuse the filling recipe and put it in something less labor-intensive. Like mini pastry cups.

Yesterday, I found this recipe on Epicurious (not quite same ingredients) that goes into more detail on the process. Don't think I'll bother trying it!

The best part was hanging out with Karen. We're going to go for something savory next time.