For puff pastry
4 ozs flour
4 ozs butter

For the cheese filling:
1/2 lb. ricotta (or cream cheese if unavailable)
1/4 lb. castor sugar
1 tablespoonful candied orange peel
A few drops of vanilla
1 tablespoonful sultanas soaked in 1 teaspoonful of rum

For the pastry cream filling:
1 egg yolk
1 oz. flour
1/2 tablespoonful sugar
1 wine glassful milk

For egg wash
Beaten egg

For decoration
Castor sugar

"Sfogliate are little 'bonnes-bouches' of the lightest of light puff paste, filled with various fillings; a good number are filled, as are our vol-au-vents, with minced chicken, shrimps and other savoury fillings; here is one in which ricotta cheese is suggested, but which can be made here with the substitution of cream cheese for the unobtainable ricotta.... Prepare a supply of puff pastry made of equal quantities (say 4 ozs. each) of flour and butter. Beat egg and sugar for coating the sfogliate before baking. Half an hour before starting to cook, place the chopped orange peel and the sultanas in a cup with the rum, and allow them to absorb it before adding them to the mixture of cream cheese and sugar. Combine the egg yolk, sugar and flour, gently add the milk and cook together in a double boiler till it has thickened; mix with the cheese mixture. Divide the puff pastry into squares about 3 inches on each side; brush with beaten egg; in the centre of each plate a tea-spoonful of the filling, and fold the pastry over corner ways, pressing the edges together; brush the top with beaten egg, and bake in a hot oven for twenty minutes; five minutes before finishing cooking, remove from the oven and sprinkle liberally with castor sugar, which will caramelise slightly, when the sfogliate are returned to the heat."

This recipe was taken from "Italian Cooking" by Dorothy Daly. It was published by Spring Books in Great Britain. For the complete copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org.... P.S. This recipe seems to be describing the original way of doing the now-famous "sfogiliatelle" that North American Italian pastry shops offer to their grateful clientele. While the look of the pastry differs substantially, the taste is rather similar. In particular, the orange-flavored ricotta filling is almost identical in taste to the one found in the "sfogiliatelle" pastry that is sold in Montreal pastry shops. The recipe directions are a bit confusing at first glance, but basically it directs the home cook to combine a traditional Italian pastry cream ("crema paasticcera") with some sweetened ricotta cheese. This is The standard Italian pastry recipe (Well, maybe it was originally French or Austrian and/or Middle Eastern????). Whatever its origin the result is heavenly. So it has universal appeal, no ifs or buts. Caramelizing the Castor sugar also adds a nice touch....... Notes: Mary Melfi.

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