Monday, August 20, 2012

Recipe for Pasta Frola: A Typical Dessert in my Uruguay

Pasta Frola is a typical merienda (tea time) treat in Uruguay (and neighboring Argentina). Lemon zest and quince jam give this “pastry” a refreshing flavor – and the lattice top makes an inviting presentation.


Ingredients:
 
½ cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
11 Tbsp (150 grams) butter
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp lemon peel, finely grated [You can substitute orange zest.]
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup dulce de membrillo (quince jam) [You can substitute raspberry jam or strawberry jam.]
1 Tbsp water
 
Directions:
 
Cream together sugar, egg, egg yolk, and butter. Add vanilla and lemon peel (or orange zest).
Mix well.
Add flour and baking powder.
Mix well.
Reserve one-third of dough for decorative lattice top. Spread remaining two-thirds of dough in 8x8-inch glass baking pan.
Beat dulce de membrillo (or jam) and water with a fork until smooth. Spread on top of dough in pan.
Lightly flour and then roll out strips of pastry and lay in crisscross pattern on top of jam. [Because the dough is delicate and rather hard to handle, I laid out strips in one direction and then gave only the appearance of a lattice, “cutting and pasting” strips instead of actually going under the first rows of strips.]
 
 
 
Bake at 375F for 25 to 35 minutes.

¡Buen provecho! (Enjoy!)
 
(I used raspberry jam this time.)