For the dough
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup lard
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
a pinch of salt

For decoration (used before baking dough)
about 5 "small" or "pee-wee" raw eggs

For decoration (used after baking dough)
Frosting
Multi-colored sprinkles

Equipment needed
Muffin pan, well-greased

Yield: about 5 pastries (amount made depends on style and size of individual baskets)

Preheat oven to 375 degress F.

Grease muffin pan.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.

Cut in lard with pastry blender.

In a separate bowl beat eggs, milk and vanilla extract together.

Mix dry ingredients with wet ones and work into a soft dough (If it is too soft, add a touch more flour, if it is too firm, add a touch more milk).

Shape the dough into a ball.

Dust a wooden board with flour and roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick.

Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds -- about 3 1/2 inches wide (The dough should fit muffin cups).

Place the rounds into the well-greased muffin cups (The rounds can be shaped to make different kinds of baskets.).

Place a very small raw egg into each muffin cup.

Cut thin strips of dough, about 1/2 inch wide and 2 inches long, and using the palms of your hands shape them into thin logs.

Place the tiny logs over the eggs, either in a criss-cross fashion, or any other kind of way, so that they look like decorative basket handles.

Bake in a pre-heated 375 F. degrees oven until lightly browned -- 15 to 20 minutes.

Cool -- about 15 minutes -- before removing from muffin pan.

Make frosting, and use it to decorate the baskets, adding sprinkles.

The recipe in this entry was adapted from "The Art of Sicilian Cooking" by Anna Muffoletto (New York: Doubleday, 1971). The cookbook can be borrowed for free at the on-line library, www.openlibrary.org..... In her notes, the cookbook author, Anna Muffoletto, indicates that "Buba cu l'uova" is served as part of a traditional Sicilian Easter breakfast. She also indicates that many other Sicilian Easter sweets, such as holiday breads, include eggs in them. The reason for this, according to the author, is that the egg is the Christian emblem of Christ's Resurrection..... P.S. I tried this recipe and found it relatively easy to do. Using a muffin pan to make the baskets was a great idea on the author's part. These sweets look very pretty, and are certainly much more appealing to the eye than sugar cookies, decorated with hard-boiled eggs that are sold in Montreal Italian pastry shops round Easter time. Still, while children in days of old (i.e., prior to World War II) might have looked forward to eating hard-boiled eggs (Eggs were generally thought of as treats back then) nowadays, it's unlikely any North American child will want to crack one open. For this reason it might be wise to fill the baskets (after they are baked) with things children are more likely to enjoy -- e.g., custard (Tiny chocolate eggs would look nice but they are hard to place because of the basket handles). That said, sometimes traditional sweets simply have to be made in the traditional manner, otherwise why bother doing them? One can get better-tasting, cheaper, non-nutritious junk food at the supermarket. Either one is safeguarding culinary traditions, by making them a part of one's life, or one is helping to bury them. For centuries Italians have been using hard-boiled eggs to decorate their Easter sweets. It would be a pity to discontinue this tradition just because eggs have lost their appeal -- in part, because they don't cost all that much. In the old days eggs were rather expensive; even those Italians who raised their own chickens used them sparingly -- often they had to sell their eggs for other food stables. The only time the poor would allow themselves the luxury of eating eggs was at Easter time. All eggs -- whether colored or uncolored -- symbolize renewal. And as Easter is celebrated in spring, eggs stand for just that -- the resurrection of all that is good in the world. Using chocolate eggs as decoration on Easter sweets might attempt to make the same promise, but they lack the nutritional value to back it up. The best thing to do (in my opinion) is to use eggs, real eggs (uncolored) on Easter delicacies. Those not eaten can be later be used in other things -- like making traditional Italian Easter salads (They too contain eggs).... Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

Back to main list