Grandma Maria’s Messina Pignolata.
I grew up in my grandma’s pastry shop and saw tons and tons of pignolata being made, but its history is much older.
During the Spanish occupation, on the occasion of Carnival festivities, in Messina they offered dishes to the people, often invented by them including special sweets, clusters of fried pine nuts mixed with honey in the shape of a pine cone.
Over the years, the people of Messina learned to prepare this delicious dessert, replacing the pine nuts with small pieces of egg pasta, about one to two centimeters long, and frying them.
As time went by, that egg biscuit completely replaced the pine nuts.
With the skill of the master pastry chefs of Messina, they managed to transform this treat into what we know today.

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Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Very economical
Rest time: 2 Hours
Preparation time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Portions: 6
Cooking methods: Frying, Boiling
Cuisine: Regional Italian
Region: Sicily
Seasonality: All seasons

670.68 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 670.68 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 85.82 (g) of which sugars 44.02 (g)
Proteins 10.62 (g)
Fat 32.98 (g) of which saturated 13.07 (g)of which unsaturated 18.69 (g)
Fibers 9.35 (g)
Sodium 48.13 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

for the cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsps lard (Or butter)
1 1/3 tbsps Limoncello
2 tsp lemon (grated peel)
as needed Vegetable oil
as needed Lard
1 egg white
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 1/2 oz dark chocolate
2 tsp butter

Grandma Maria’s Messina Pignolata

Tools

What we need to make

Stand mixer
3 Bowls
Pan large
Pot
Paper towels

Preparation of Grandma Maria’s Messina Pignolata

To make

In a bowl, put the flour. In the center, incorporate eggs, lard or butter, sugar, lemon peel, and Limoncello.
Work until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Form a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.
Now on a lightly floured surface, cut long, thin pieces about 1/2 inch thick, then cut them into pieces 1 or 2 cm long.
Remove excess flour and fry in plenty of vegetable oil, about 3/4, and the rest lard. The temperature must be quite hot.
Cook until golden, drain with a skimmer, and let excess oil dry on paper towels; meanwhile…
Prepare the white glaze by putting the egg white in a bowl and starting to beat.
When it’s stiff, start adding the powdered sugar slowly, still working with the whisks.
Now it’s time to add the lemon juice
Dip half of the cookies, mix well, and start placing them on a tray on one half, leaving the opposite side free for the chocolate part.
Melt the chocolate with butter in a double boiler.
Dip the remaining cookies and mix well to adhere the glaze.
Complete the tray where you previously placed the white pignolata.
If you have any glaze left, both white and chocolate, let it drip onto the pignolata, without letting it drip on the edges of the tray.
Let the glazes dry for 2 hours, and there you have Grandma Maria’s Messina Pignolata ready.
At Carnival, you can decorate it with sugar paste confetti and masks.