Flaky, buttery pastry filled with a vegan ricotta mixture and baked until golden and crispy. Just one bite and you will fall in love with these Maltese Vegan Pastizzi recipe.
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Maltese
Prep Time 35 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Rest Time 14 hourshours
Total Time 15 hourshours5 minutesminutes
Servings 24pastizzi
Author Two Market Girls
Ingredients
Dough:
480g(4 cups) all-purpose flour
7g(1 tsp) salt
240mL(1 cup) water(plus 1 tbsp more if needed)
15mL(1 tbsp) olive oil
113g(½ cup) vegan butter
96g(½ cup) vegetable shortening
Filling:
350g(1 block) extra firm tofu
30galmonds
1lemonjuiced
45g(3 tbsp) miso paste
7g(1 tsp) salt
15g(⅓ cup) nutritional yeast
15mL(1 tbsp) olive oil
30mL(2 tbsp) non-dairy milk
200gsilken tofu
pinchpepper
Instructions
In a bowl combine vegan butter and vegetable shortening and mix until combined. Set in the fridge while you don't use it.
To a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add all-purpose flour and salt – mix until combined. Add the oil and half the water and mix with the dough hook. With the mixer on medium-low slowly add in remaining water until a smooth, not sticky, dough forms. If needed use the an extra splash of water to make a smooth dough, adding 1 tsp at a time. You shouldn't need more than 1 tbsp or so.
Once the dough is all together remove from the bowl and knead by hand until smooth, about 2-4 minutes. You should be able to knead the dough without it crumbling or sticking to the surface of your table/counter. If it's sticking you added too much water and should add a dusting of flour to fix.
Rub the dough ball all around with 1-2 tsp of the butter/shortening mixture, this will keep it from drying out as it rests. Place back in the mixing bowl and cover with a kitchen towel/cloth. It's best to let the dough rest overnight on the counter, but if you're in a pinch it should be rested AT LEAST 60 minutes – longer if you can.
While the dough rests, make the ricotta filling. To a large bowl crumble the extra firm tofu into small pieces. Set aside. To a high-speed blender add almonds, lemon juice, miso paste, salt, nutritional yeast, olive oil, non-dairy milk, silken tofu and pepper. Blend until smooth, then pour the mixture into the bowl with the crumbled tofu. Toss until combined and set in the fridge until needed.
Once the dough has rested, on a large (your table may be necessary) clean, smooth surface spread a thin layer of the butter mixture so the dough doesn't stick.
Place the rested dough on the surface and using your hands press out the dough slightly. Then using a rolling pin, thinly roll out the dough – it should be so thin that you can see the table through it, if you rip holes in it rolling it out, that's okay!
Using your hand, scoop a handful of the butter/shortening mixture and spread a thin layer across the whole dough – edge to edge.
Starting from one end, roll the dough into a pinwheel (like you do cinnamon rolls), pulling and stretching the dough as you roll – again holes are okay. You want the pastry layers to be as thin as you can possibly get them.
Roll the rolled pastry into a coil (like a snail shell) and rub with a light layer of butter/shortening mix to keep from drying out. Place in a dish and cover with a towel. Let rest for at least 60 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 400F.
To form the pastizzi, cut the rested dough into 1.5-inch pieces. Using two pieces of parchment paper, roll out each pieve of dough into a circle between the two pieces of parchment to avoid sticking. You want to roll it out to about ¼" thick max. Be careful as the dough can be fragile as this point.
Once rolled out, cup it in your hands and fill the centre with ricotta. Seal by folding over one side and then the next, pinching each of the two ends together to seal.
Place pastizzi on a lined baking sheet and brush with some of the butter/margarine mixture.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a deep golden brown.