The ovis mollis shortcrust pastry is characterized by a special ingredient that makes it unique, the boiled yolk. Thanks to the starch, powdered sugar, and boiled yolk, you will create a fine shortcrust pastry that literally melts in your mouth, crumbly, fragrant, and delicate, perfect for preparing cookies, pastries, and small tarts.
The recipe is easy and quick; it takes very little time to make a good dough, but you need to follow some necessary tips to achieve a perfect result.
With this shortcrust, you can make very well-known cookies typical of Piedmont, but it is also used for preparing canestrelli or Margherite di Stresa, delicious cookies created by Pastry Chef Bolongaro on the occasion of Queen Margherita’s communion; I find it fantastic; it’s one of the bases I love the most for its delicacy.
Today, besides the recipe, I reveal the pastry chef’s secret Leonardo Di Carlo for cooking the yolks without wasting the whites, a real gem you will find in the process!
Also try:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: for about 1 lb of shortcrust pastry
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 466.65 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 52.89 (g) of which sugars 16.71 (g)
- Proteins 5.20 (g)
- Fat 27.06 (g) of which saturated 16.85 (g)of which unsaturated 10.08 (g)
- Fibers 0.68 (g)
- Sodium 81.87 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 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
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup potato starch
- 2/3 cup butter
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 3/4 oz egg yolks (boiled and sifted)
- Half vanilla bean
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp lemon zest (grated)
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Small pot
- 1 Scale
- 1 Sieve
Method
To cook the boiled yolks, we have two methods, one very innovative that will not waste our egg whites.
1st METHOD
Place the eggs (at room temperature) in a small pot, cover them with water, and put them on the heat. Cook the eggs for 8 minutes from the start of boiling, then turn off the heat. Remove the shell, extract the yolks, and let them cool.
Once they are cool, crumble them coarsely, place them in a fine-mesh sieve (or a strainer) and sift them by pressing with a spoon.
2nd METHOD
To obtain boiled yolks without wasting the egg whites, I use an innovative method by Pastry Chef Leonardo Di Carlo. Separate the yolks from the whites, place the yolks in a small glass bowl, mix them with 20 g of powdered sugar (taken from the total recipe), and cook them in the microwave at maximum power for 90 seconds, and voilà, we have obtained boiled yolks in a few seconds without wasting egg whites and without spreading the unpleasant smell of boiled eggs around the house.
Place the boiled yolks in the fridge, let them cool well, crumble them coarsely, and sift them by pressing them in a fine-mesh sieve or a strainer.
If you don’t have a microwave, you can cook them in a bain-marie.
Take the butter out of the fridge 20 minutes before preparing the shortcrust.
In a bowl, sift the flour, potato starch, and powdered sugar; add the butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes, sifted yolks, lemon zest, vanilla bean seeds, and salt. Briefly knead the mixture with your hands or in a stand mixer until you get a homogeneous dough.
Form a dough ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 1 hour, or better yet, overnight.
The ovis mollis shortcrust pastry is ready.
If you left the shortcrust in the fridge for 1 hour, you can use it immediately, let it acclimate for 10 minutes, knead it for a few seconds with your hands or in a stand mixer to make it pliable, and prepare your cookies.
If you left the shortcrust in the fridge overnight, leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes, then knead it quickly for a few seconds to make it pliable, and use it to prepare cookies and pastries.
It is a delicate base that must remain light in color; after rolling out the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 1/4 inch, create your cookies and bake them in a preheated static oven at 340°F for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie.
Advice
If you need to prepare it in advance, you can easily store it in the fridge for a week; if you don’t use it all, you can freeze it.
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