Cuddure pasquali messinesi: a traditional Sicilian Easter recipe, or rather Messina. I grew up waiting for Easter and these simple sweets, prepared with the dough of the DINNER SANDWICHES, decorated with eggs as the Easter tradition dictates and sprinkled with sesame seeds. The Messina Easter tradition, In fact, you difference a little bit’ from the Sicilian one in general. In Palermo, but also in Catania and other provinces of Sicily, in fact, the CUDDURE or PUPI CU L'OVA. A kind of shortcrust biscuit made with lard, intertwined in the shape of doves, Bells, baskets or anthropomorphic figures, decorated with colored eggs and sugars.
In Messina, instead, to make cuddure you use a typical town preparation: the dough of the dinner sandwiches. A traditional dessert of Lent and, in particular, Holy Thursday, that to celebrate Easter are enriched in form and content: Braided like baskets, with eggs in small pockets and sprinkled with sesame seeds, smell of cloves. Messina cuddures are not too sweet, so they can be used to accompany cold cuts, cheese, scrambled eggs, either with jams or chocolate creams, For messinanese they have a cultural and emotional meaning, for me represent the very idea of Easter, home and family.
I prepare the Messina Easter cuddure and the pupi cu’ the ova every year: it's not Easter without these simple sweets in substance but baroque in form, that are essence of Sicilian Easter. Without taking anything away from my beloved PASTIERA NAPOLETANA, always in my heart. Try, treat yourself to a little’ di Sicilia. And take a look at my SPECIAL EASTER RECIPES. Have a good day!
