Easter Pastries
 

I would like to make something sweet for Easter for my Italian class this week, but I'm not sure what to make. Does anyone have any Italian pastry ideas or recipes for Easter???

My Nana always made a sweet rice cake that is similar to a cheesecake for Easter. It is flavored with either orange or lemon. I found several recipes a few years ago online and it turned out very well. Enjoy!

I think the best and most famous is ptiera di grano, a Neapolitan Easter pastry. It's a pie, with a fairly sweet crust (pasta frolla). The filling is made with ricotta, egg (white and yolk beaten and added separately), and cooked hulled whole wheat kernels. It is flavored with orange flower water, lemon and orange zest, candied orange peels and citron, cinnamon and vanilla. It's very fragrant and not too sweet. In some parts of the US where the imigrants did not have access to the wheat kernels, alternative versions developed using rice or cooked noodles instead of wheat. It's a very fragrant pastry with an exotic flavor, but not too sweet. (The ones I've had were awful, but that may be because they lacked the necessary flavorings, like orange flower water and cinnamon and orange peel.)

Pastiera di grano

(I don't know where my "a" and "s" went in the previous post.)

Thank You.