The Cretan kalitsounia, or melitinia that are also called in Santorini, stings in Mykonos, honey in Anafi, maneoure pies in our Folegandros, sweet cheese pies in Tinos, or lamps that got their name from the wicks that are all around. Very tasty, and we usually meet them more at Easter, or on holidays.
Filled with unsalted cream cheese or mizithra, with cinnamon or vanilla or mastic aroma. No matter how you eat them, they definitely stay in your memory for the uniqueness of the taste but also for their taste.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g flour for buns or soft
- 1 sachet of baking powder
- ½ kg soda
- 150 g sugar
- 200 g of yogurt
- 50 g of melted butter
- 60 gr of olive oil
For the stuffing
- 1 kg unsalted mizithra or cream cheese
- 30 g melted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 kg crushed mastic
- 400 g sugar
For the spread I will use 1-2 egg yolks and I will need lemon leaves
Directions
- Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, baking powder and baking soda and mix. Add the liquids and knead with the arm of the mixer until it becomes pliable but not too soft. Let it rest in the fridge for an hour.
- While we wait for the dough to rest, we prepare the filling.
- In a bowl, crumble the cheese and add the rest of the ingredients and shape it into a homogeneous mixture.
- We open our dough and cut circles around 10-12 cm.
- Place them on one side and put plenty of flour between them so that they do not stick.
- We take one by one in our hand we make a light press on the dough in the center, in order to create a cup.
- Add a teaspoon of our mixture and start with small bites to close the circle and create a small nest in our hand. Repeat the same process until our pastries are finished.
- We place them on the plate with oil glue and we put them at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other so that they do not stick when they swell.
- Bake them in a preheated oven at 180The for 2-25 minutes.
- Once we take them out as they are hot from the oven, we place them on washed and well-dried lemon leaves until they cool down. This gives them an extra scent.
Good luck.
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