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.)