Sinizza is the reason why my waistline is bigger than ever this weekend. Hide those weighing scales everyone! This has become my favourite dessert.
Ok, so I have indulged a little too much this weekend. Stuffed squid, baked fish, Sinizza, pastizzi, baked macaroni, kinni, sinizza and even more sinizza….As mentioned in my previous post we had my Maltese relatives over on Friday night and we also went and celebrated Malta Day at London Westminster Cathedral yesterday. Tonight I am having the left over sinizza which I made on Friday evening.
Quite simply it is sponge, smothered in jam and liqueur, spread with ricotta, chocolate flakes, candied peel, cherries, nuts, sugar, flavouring and then encased in puff pastry. This is baked in the oven and then out comes this sweet monstrosity of a thing we love to call sinizza.
Here is my version. The liqueur I have used is blackberry liqueur made by my great aunt from Yorkshire. You can use any sweet liqueur you like.
- 375g puff pastry
- Rasberry jam
- Sponge cake
- Raspberry liqueur (or any sweet liqueur)
- 60 grams chopped nuts
- 600 grams ricotta
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon glaced cherries finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons candied peel
- 4 tablespoons finely grated chocolate
- Lightly beaten egg and caster sugar to glaze the top of the pastry before baking.
- On a baking tray place some baking paper and roll out the puff pastry.
- Spread some rasberry or any berry jam onto the pastry.
- Place the sponge cake on top of the pastry leaving space around the edges.
- Spread some more jam on the sponge cake (if your sponge cake is a jam swiss roll then you will not need to spread any more jam) and sprinkle with liqueur.
- Mix all the other remaining ingredients and then spread the ricotta mixture onto the sponge cake.
- Preheat the oven to 180oC.
- Lift one side of the pastry towards the centre of the sinizza.
- Lift the other side of the pastry towards the centre of the sinizza and seal the edges with your fingers.
- Glace with the beaten egg and sprinkle sugar on top.
- Prick several times with a fork.
- Bake in the oven until golden brown.
Sinizza before being rolled. Layer of pastry, jam, sponge, liqueur, more jam and ricotta mixture.
One side of the sinizza lifted and rolled.
Sinizza rolled and edges sealed.
Sinizza brushed with beaten egg, sugar and pricked with a fork.
Sinizza out of the oven and sliced!