How to make Maritozzo (Roman Sweet Cream Pastry)

Maritozzo is a typical sweet from Rome, spread throughout Lazio; it is a loaf cut in half and stuffed with whipped cream or custard.

Its history is very ancient and linked to some popular Roman traditions.

History

The origins of maritozzo date back to ancient Rome; it is said that women prepared it as a meal for farmers to work outdoors all day long.

It seems that in the middle ages maritozzo was a sweet prepared during Lent and enriched with pine nuts, raisins and candied; was one of the few “transgressions” granted during this period of abstinence.

With the passing of time, maritozzo has become a good wish for the future bride.

In fact, the boyfriends used to give to their women this loaf, which usually contained a small gift for the beloved.

The sweet name comes from this custom: maritozzo is in fact a popular way to say “husband”.

This gift was given to the girlfriend on the first Friday of March, the ancient Valentine’s Day and usually contained a jewel.

Today maritozzo is a sweet stuffed with custard or whipped cream that is easy to find in all the Roman pastries; depending on the area, is also called maritello or panmarito.

Recipe

The recipe we propose here is that of typical roman maritozzo with raisins, pine nuts and candied and a filling of whipped cream. The procedure is a bit long, but it’s worth it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup of warm water;
• 3 cups + 2 tbsp of flour
• 1 tbsp brewer’s yeast
• 1 lemon grated
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup + 3 tbsp of  granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of seeds oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• Candied Orange
• Pine Nuts
• Raisins
• 1 cups + ¾ cup + 3 tbsp of fresh cream
• ¼ cup of icing sugar

METHOD:

• Melt the yeast in a little warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and mix.
• In a bowl, put the flour and sugar and pour the mixture with yeast, warm water, seed oil, salt and lemon zest and mix everything.
• Take the eggs, separate the yolks from the albums and combine the yolks with the dough. Keep your albums.
• Add the raisins, pine nuts, and orange to the dough and mix well.
• Place the dough in a floured bowl and cover it with transparent foil. Let it rest for 2 hours, so that it will double the volume.
• After the 2 hours, flour the work surface and divide the dough into 12 pieces; put them in a baking tin and cover them with transparent foil. Let them rest for 30 minutes.
• At this point, stretch out the shape of the maritozzi and spit on the album, cover them again with transparent foil and let them rest for another 30 minutes.
• Bake maritozzi in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, whip the cream with the icing sugar
• Take the maritozzi out of the oven and let cool. Cut them in half and stuff with the whipped cream.