Malta commemorates Holy Week and Easter with great enthusiasm. Most parishes have larger than life-size statues of moments on the way of the cross, which are placed in the church during Lent. On Good Friday they are carried out in procession around the various villages, accompanied by sombre music and people dressed in period costume for a retelling of the story of salvation, sometimes starting from Adam and Eve! The atmosphere is one of a gathering of the community and reflection on the events leading to Christ’s passion.
One of the statues is not taken out on Good Friday, and this is the statue of the Risen Christ. This one remains hidden until Sunday morning when it is taken out to run around the village! Instead of being accompanied by sombre music, a brass band plays joyful tunes and the men (they are always men!) who carry the statue wait until they find a stretch of straight road and they clear the way and then run with the statue down the path. It’s an uplifting, if somewhat terrifying sight!
Apart from statues, processions and beautiful liturgies inside each beautifully decorated parish church, Maltese people enjoy their food. During Lent many will give up sweets but there is one permitted sweet called kwarezimal; its name comes from the Italian word for Lent. On Holy Thursday a special kind of bread is given to those who have their feet washed at the liturgy: qagħqa tal-appostli. During Holy Week households will be filled with the smell of baking as the figolli are prepared. A figolla is an Easter delicacy from sweet pastry and a ground almond filling, and is decorated with coloured icing or chocolate. Though traditionally they would have been made in the shape of a lamb (for the Lamb of God), for many years they have taken a variety of shapes. People give figolli to each other to spread the joy of Resurrection. It is the tradition not to eat figolli until after the Easter vigil on Saturday night, after which they are enjoyed at any time!
Pastry
- 500g plain flour
- 227g cold butter, grated
- 150g caster sugar
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 medium egg yolks
- 60ml water
Almond Paste Filling
- 250g pure ground almonds
- 250g caster sugar
- 2 medium egg whites
- 1 tsp almond extract (optional)
Other ingredients
- 2 tbsp milk of choice, to brush the pastry
- 400g white chocolate, chopped
- 2 tbsp flavourless oil
- Food colouring gels for the white chocolate
- Food colouring powders for the speckles (optional)
- 1/2 tsp vodka to mix with the powders (optional)
Instructions
Preparing the pastry and filling
- In a large bowl, combine flour with the grated butter with your hands or a pastry blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until smooth.
- Transfer the pastry to a flat surface and divide in half. Wrap each half in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. One half will be the base and the other half the surface.
- To make the filling, whisk the ground almonds with the sugar. Pour in the egg whites and almond extract (optional) to form a sturdy paste. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate along with the pastry.
Assembling and baking
- Prepare a baking sheet with a double layer of parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200°c / 392°F.
- Roll out one half of the pastry on a floured surface to 0.5cm / 0.2″ thickness. Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer to the prepared sheet, at least 2cm / 0.8″ apart.
- Roll out the almond paste filling and use the same cutter as the pastry. Press the sides of the cut filling inward to make it smaller. Place on top of the pastry shapes in the baking sheet. Brush the edges of the pastry (around the filling) with milk.
- Roll out the second half of the pastry and cut out the shapes. Transfer the pastry on top of the filling to make the surface. Press the edges to glue it down to the base that has been brushed with milk.
- Brush the surface with a very light layer of milk. Bake for 18-20 minutes and take out before they start to get golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool.
Decorating
- Melt the white chocolate (or chocolate of preference) until smooth. Stir in 2 tbsp of flavourless oil (for shine and texture).
- (Optional) Add the food colour gel to the divided chocolate. (You can use a drop of lilac to reduce the yellow tones from the white one.)
- Place a baking sheet underneath the cooling rack. Pour the white chocolate over the figolli. You can reuse the white chocolate that drips into the baking sheet.
- Let the chocolate dry completely (ideally do not refrigerate).
- (Optional) Mix some purple food colouring powder with 1/2 a tsp of vodka to make the speckles. Use a brush and your fingers to speckle.
- Enjoy!