Mauritian Napolitaine is one of the most renowned sweet treats of the island and it is much loved by all the locals. You can find Napolitains all across the island, be it, in supermarkets, local grocery stores, pastry shops or cafes. They also come in different shapes and sizes, but most commonly, they are circular and pink.
Delicious and melt in the mouth, those sandwiched cookies are like little parcels of joy. On top of that, they are as easy as “ABC” to make! You only need 4 basic ingredients; butter, flour, jam and icing sugar. So if you want to make those famous local sweet treats and discover a piece of Mauritius’ food culture, our recipe is an easy and delicious one.
What’s a Mauritian Napolitaine?
A Mauritian Napolitaine is two shortbread biscuits sandwiched with strawberry jam and covered with a layer of pink royal icing. It is often and best enjoyed with a cup of warm Mauritian tea.
Tips & Tricks
- Traditionally, the Napolitaines are completely covered with a generous layer of icing. But given that I prefer them less sweet, I usually only ice the top of my Napolitaines using a pipping bag
- If your cookie dough is too dry to form a ball. You can add more butter (1 tbsp at a time) so as the bind the flour together. And if it is too sticky, simply add more flour, again little by little. Do not at any point in time, add water to the dough to form the ball as your cookies will shrink during baking
- If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the dough. However, I usually use salted butter, instead of adding a pinch of salt to my recipe
Storage
- You can keep your Napolitains in an airtight container on the kitchen counter for up to 1 week or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks
- The precooked dough can be frozen for 1-2 months, simply thaw it in the fridge at least 24 hours before use.
Mauritian Napolitaine – Halloween version
Course: Something sweetDifficulty: Easy12
units45
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minutesIngredients
- Cookies
500g (4 cups plus 2 tbsp) plain flour
350g (3 sticks plus 1 tbsp) salted butter, room temp*
100g (⅓ cup) strawberry jam
- Glaze
450g (2¾ cups plus 2 tbsp) icing sugar
100ml water
Green and black food coloring
Directions
- For the Cookies
- Sift flour in a mixing bowl
- Cut your butter into cubes and add it to the flour
- Using your fingertips, rub in the flour and butter until the mixture is crumbly and has a sand like texture
- Form your dough into a ball (add in 1 tbsp of butter at a time if the mixture is too dry, or 1 tbsp at a time of flour if the dough is too sticky)
- Plastic wrap your dough and let it rest for at least 30mins in the fridge
- Preheat your oven at 180C
- Once rested, remove your dough from the refrigerator and roll it out evenly, about 1 cm thick
- Using a 5x5cm cookie cutter, cut out squares and lay them onto your baking tray lined with baking paper
- Bake your cookies at 180C for about 15-20mins or until slightly golden. You know the cookies are ready when the middle is no longer soft when you press the centre
- Once baked, let the cookies cool down completely on a wire rack
- Gently sandwich 2 cookies together with 1 tsp of jam and set aside on a tray
- For the Glaze
- Sift the icing sugar into 3 separate bowls of 150g
- Make a well in the centre of the icing and add a 4-6 tsp of water to each bowl, 1 tsp at a time. Mix until well combined
- Mix in 1 drop of the respective food coloring to create; green, black and white glaze
- Pour each glaze into pipping bags and decorate your sandwiched cookies accordingly. I recommend starting with the green, then black glaze
- Let the icing firm up, and ta-da your Napolitaines are ready
Notes
- * For Vegan version you can replace the butter with vegan butter or vegetable shortening
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