Pardulas - Sardinian Easter Sweets - cooking recipe

Ingredients

200 g plain flour
200 g durum wheat semolina
50 g soft butter, in flakes
1 None lemon, zested
1 None orange, zested
2 None eggs, 1 separated
60 g caster sugar
1 pinch saffron
400 g cream cheese
1-2 tbsp icing sugar

Preparation

Mix the flour, semolina, 1 pinch of salt in a bowl. Add 1 cup of lukewarm water and knead with the dough hook of a hand mixer to make a smooth dough. Add the butter and knead again. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel.
For the filling: whisk 1 egg, 1 pinch of salt and the sugar in a high-sided bowl until creamy. Stir in the saffron and gradually add the cream cheese and stir in the lemon and orange peel.
Roll out the dough on a well-floured work surface until it's about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 3 inch circles with a cookie cutter. Keep kneading the pastry and roll it again until it has all been cut out.
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately with a fork. Brush the edges of the half of the dough circles with egg whites. Put 1 tbsp of the filling in the middle of each and put a dough circle on top as a lid. Press the edges down all around with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 375\u00b0F. Put the pardulas on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, brush them with egg yolk and bake them for 30-35 mins. Take them out of the oven, leave them to cool and serve dusted with powdered sugar.