For those of you who don't know what Figolli are, they are traditional Maltese Easter treats. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the shapes started as symbolic, like a fish, a lamb, a bird, a rabbit, etc. Malta is a very religious country, so the shapes would reflect that. Now a days, less traditional shapes have emerged, like a car, a boat, a butterfly, etc. Some people coat them in chocolate and others in icing. My family enjoys the icing. I personally find it easier to ice figolli with icing-it is more forgiving. The cookie is similar to a butter cookie with an almond paste filling. In Malta, you see figolli made with blanched almonds, but that is a lot of work! We just use the almonds with the skins on, and it really gives a better flavour in my opinion. What also makes these "cookies", is the use of almond extract. I've searched high and low in Canada for a good one, but nothing compares to the pure almond extract you get in Malta. The smell and flavour it imparts is out of this world. We bring it home from Malta and a little goes a long way. The real stuff can't be stored in plastic jars because it will eat through the plastic.
Since we are celebrating Easter as a family late this year, I couldn't show up without the traditional treat! What kind of Maltese family member would I be?
I started making my own figolli a few years ago. I'd send one to Joe's work for the office, usually in a Firefox/Mozilla theme. Here are a few pictures of ones I've made:
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| My dad helped me decorate this one. We were basing the picture from a t-shirt. |
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| When Firefox for Android came out, I thought the Android robot was appropriate. |
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| Because the company is Mozilla, I tried the mozilla dinosaur. |
The last few years, I just made my figolli in square pans and decorated them in a scene of some sort. That is really taking the easy way out as figolli go. This year, I made shapes! Traditionally, huge metal cookie cutters are used, but as I learned from my mom, you can save a ton of money by making your own with cardboard. In case it isn't obvious from my pictures, these are BIG cookies. If you try to eat one of these in one sitting, you are certain to go into a diabetic coma. Luckily, they freeze really well, so you cam pace yourself if you choose not to share.
Because it is a family tradition, I don't feel right giving out the recipe that we use. There are many variations of the recipe online. It all comes down to preference after trial and error. I don't think there is a bad recipe, just a texture and/or flavour difference. If you see my mom's recipe box, she has about 10 or more different ones all labeled as "<insert name>'s". Everyone has their own recipe!
Once iced with a mixture of icing sugar, water, and we add a little almond extract, they are a blank palette. You get to choose the colours and designs. I use gel food colouring because a little bit gives great colour. I usually end up with a bunch of bowls with different colours by the time I'm done. A sugar high also accompanies from licking my fingers. I did my best to not eat a lot of the sugar this year.
The shapes I attempted this year, are a bunny, butterfly, and egg. My artistic skills are next to nonexistent, but I think they turned out okay. As Joe says, I am my own worst critic, so I see my amateur flaws. I should have baked it more or should have taken it out of the oven sooner, the details didn't turn out how I wanted, etc. Here are a few pictures of the figolli I made this year.
I rather enjoy making these for my loved ones. Traditions are important to carry on, which is why I started to make my own figolli. There will come a day when my mom doesn't want to or can't make them, and I'd like to be able to step in when needed. Figolli are part of my heritage, and future generations need to know how to carry along the tradition. Baking and cooking are in my blood, and it is a fun skill to have!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!
Lisa
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