Since sfogiatelle is my absolute favorpastry, when I passed this pastry shop named La Sfogiatella,…read moreI had to stop in even though I had already eaten a sfogiatelle earlie that day! But hey, I'm in Italy and I can't get sfogiatelle in Portland, Oregon. Plus, the calories don't count when traveling!
A sfogiatelle is made from laminated pastry cut into coin shapes, several coins layered on top of each other which creates a flaky shell. A mixture of ricotta slightly sweetened with powdered sugar and citron, typically orange, is paced on top and the coin is then folded over to resemble a clam shell. It's then baked and the shell is both buttery and super crispy while the ricotta is now slightly firm from baking. It's not too sweet which is exactly why I love them.
Sfogiatelle originated by a nun in Naples and has become a symbol of Naples and they are found in abundance all over Southern Italy.
Don't confuse a sfogiatelle with the American Lobster tail. While the outer shell is similar, the lobster tail has a larger shell and a dollop of Chou pastry is placed in the center before baking to puff up the core. Then after the shell is baked, pastry cream, not ricotta, is piped in. It's good, but it is not a sfogiatelle! They were created in the U.S. when Italian Americans could not acquire ricotta, so they improvised.
Coming from an Italian family, my grandparents always brought a box of sf and cannoli for every holiday or special occasion. And of course we went to the bakery to get them even if it was not a holiday!
So being in Southern Italy where my grandparents on both sides were born and lived, eating sfogiatelle and other foods from my childhood felt like they were still here with me as I visited the cities they were from.
And the sfogiatelle from La Sfogiatella was superb in every way!
