Pastizzi (Maltese Ricotta Parcels) 🥟

Name: Pastizzi (Maltese Ricotta Parcels)
Prep time: 36 min
Cook time: 54 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Maltese
Ingredients: For the pastry: 3 cups flour; 1 tsp salt; ½ cup olive oil; ¾ cup warm water; For the filling: 2 cups ricotta (sheep's milk ideal, cow's fine), drained overnight; 1 egg yolk; 2 tbsp sugar; a pinch of vanilla or lemon zest; optional handful of sultans; Oil and flour for working; extra oil for brushing; Or the pea version: 1 cup dried split peas soaked, simmered to mash with onion, garlic, mint, oil

The nation's 30-cent breakfast and the reason Maltese bakeries open before dawn: flaky, pillow-shaped parcels of hand-stretched phyllo-ish pastry wrapped around a nub of sweet sheep's-milk ricotta (or mushy peas for the purists), baked until the layers shatter. You buy them standing up from a glass counter, still too hot to hold, with a Kinnie beside you — a snack that has fed Valletta bus drivers, fishermen and tourists alike for over a century.

Valletta Maltese ⏱ 90 min Medium

Method

1

Mix flour, salt, oil and warm water into a firm, smooth dough; knead 5 min, rest 30 min under a bowl.
2

Beat the drained ricotta with yolk, sugar and zest until creamy; it must be thick, not runny.
3

Roll the dough paper-thin into a large sheet, brush generously with oil, fold like a letter into a small block; rest 15 min. Repeat the roll-brush-fold twice more — this is the 7-layer trick that makes pastizzi shatter.
4

Roll the block thin again, cut into 4×4-inch squares; drop a generous spoon of filling onto each.
5

Fold diagonally into a triangle, then roll up from the long edge into the classic pillow, sealing the sides.
6

Bake at 200°C for 18–22 min until pale-gold and visibly flaking; rest 5 min before touching — the filling is molten.
7

Serve scorching-hot, standing at the counter if possible, with a bitter lemonade.

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