Chocolate small cakes: the recipe for the delicious variant of the classic Apulian dessert

Chocolate small cakes that Italian people call “pasticciotti” are one of the tastiest variations of the typical dessert of the Apulian gastronomic tradition. Younger brothers of the classic small cakes filled with custard and sour cherries, they are made with a crumbly and soft chocolate shortcrust pastry which, just like a precious casket, contains a heart of irresistible cocoa filling. Considered the symbol of Apulian Salento pastry, the Lecce small cakes have very ancient origins, dating back to the eighteenth century; but this version in particular seems to have been born in 2008, the year of Barack Obama's elections, in order to celebrate the former president of the United States of America. The characteristic of this preparation is the use of lard, a fundamental ingredient for obtaining a fragrant and melting shortscrust pastry. Make them with our recipe, explained step by step, and then enjoy them at breakfast, as a snack or as a delicious after-meal; every occasion will be the right one.

How to prepare chocolate small cakes

Collect the lard in a bowl, add the egg and 50 grams of sugar (1) and work everything until a homogeneous mixture will be obtained.

Add the sifted flour, about 30 grams of cocoa and the powdered yeast and mix again with a hand whisk (2).

Continue to knead with your hands, until you will obtain a firm and homogeneous mixture; then form a ball (3), cover and let it rest in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar until the mixture is creamy and homogeneous (4). Add the remaining cocoa and corn starch and mix again.

Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat it. Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise, collect the internal seeds with the blade of a knife and place them in hot milk with the pod itself. As soon as the milk starts to boil, turn off the heat and let it infuse with the vanilla (5).

Pour the still hot milk into the previously prepared mixture (6), then put it back on the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until creamy.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, then add it to the cream (7), putting it back on the heat and stirring constantly with a whisk to avoid the formation of lumps.

When the chocolate cream begins to thicken, remove it from the heat (8) and let it cool.

Obtain some balls from the cocoa shortcrust pastry, then mash them with your hands and knead them until you get discs slightly larger than your paper cups (9).

Stuff the shortcrust pastry shells with a generous spoonful of chocolate cream, then close them with another disc of shortcrust pastry (10), seal the edges well and prick the surface with the prongs of a fork. Then bake the small cakes at 170 degrees C for 10 minutes, raise the temperature to 210 degrees C and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

When cooked, take the small cakes out of the oven and enjoy them still warm or at room temperature (11).

How to store chocolate small cakes

Freshly baked and left to cool, the chocolate small cakes are really delicious, but you can also enjoy them cold the next day. Just preserve them in the refrigerator, closed in a special airtight container.