Maltese Cheese Cakes Pastizzi Recipe

How to make it

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• Note: You can substitute Pillsbury Flaky Pastry Dough for home-made flaky pastry dough...if you're lazy like me!
• Mix the rikotta cheese with the two eggs until the eggs are thoroughly mixed into the rikotta cheese.
• Add a bit of salt to the mixture for taste.
• Roll out the dough (do not make the dough too thin.)
• Cut the dough into three- to four-inch circles.
• Put one tablespoon of the rikotta cheese mix in the middle of each circle.
• Fold each circle from the top and the bottom to the centre and squeeze the edges together so that the pocket is sealed (the horizontal ends should be formed into points.)
• Put the pastizzi on a margarine greased baking sheet.
• Bake in a moderate oven (350-425 degrees) for about one hour.
• You will need to experiment a bit with the oven temperature and the cooking time. The pastizzi should be a golden-brown colour when they're ready. They're best eaten when they are warm with a cup of good coffee or tea. Enjoy!
• Notes:
• * A variant of this savoury cheesecake is the pea cake where the ricotta, egg filling is replaced with mashed peas with curry seasoning.
• ** This is not an easy to make dough but its worth the hassle as, once cooked, it gives light crisp layers that melt in the mouth, this thanks to air trapped between the dough layers.
• *** Store the dough covered with a damp cloth in the refrigerator.