The “scarcella” is the traditional Apulian Easter dessert. It’s not as fluffy as a cake, nor is it as firm as a cookie. It’s a mix of flour, eggs and sugar wrapped up in a soft dough that you can mold into the shape you desire. Popular forms include the egg or the dove, typical symbols of Easter.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
500 g flour
5 eggs, 3 of which hard-boiled
100 gr sugar
70 gr olive oil
20 gr baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
milk, as needed
colored edible sprinkles
Place the flour in a volcano shape on a pastry board and make a small depression in the center. Break the 3 eggs into the mixture. Add the oil, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla.
Mix together with your hands for a few minutes. Add warm milk as necessary to create a soft dough. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, then cut out the cakes in the shapes that you prefer.
Take the dough with your hands and place it into the pan and decorate it with 3 hard-boiled eggs in their shells and keep them steady using two stripes of dough.
The shell of boiled eggs should be decorated. Brushes the surface with an egg yolk diluted with water and decorate the scarcella with small colored confetti or sprinkles. Bake for about 30 minutes at 440°F.
