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Genovesi Ericine are pastries that originated in Maria Grammitico’s pasticceria located in the hilltop town of Erice in Sicily. Buttery and flaky shortcrust pastry is filled with lemon scented pastry cream and dusted with powdered sugar. A scrumptious treat to enjoy with coffee or cappuccino!
If you ever have the good fortune to visit the beautiful medieval town of Erice, in the province of Trapani the first place place you must seek out is Pasticceria Maria Grammatico.
There you can enjoy Genovesi Ericini as well as an array of beautifully crafted Sicilian pastries many of which are made with almonds. And of course don’t forget to visit the castle in this charming, hilltop town with sweeping views of the sea and the surrounding countryside below.
What are Genovesi Ericine?
Genovesi Ericine are Sicilian pastries made with a flaky, buttery shortcrust dough and filled with a lemon flavored pastry cream, or crema pasticcera. Here is the one I enjoyed in Erice three years ago in Maria Grammatico’s pastry shop.
The recipe I am sharing here is entirely my interpretation of these delectable sweets. But first let me tell you a little bit about this remarkable woman!
About Maria Grammatico
If you’re not already familiar with it, Maria Grammatico’s story is quite inspiring. Following the death of her father after World War II, her mother could not afford to raise 6 children, therefore Maria was sent to live in a local convent. There she learned how to prepare pasticcini di mandorla made with almond paste along with other traditional recipes.
After 15 years of isolation and long hours of hard work, she left the convent with almost nothing. And with no help or support from the nuns she set up her own shop selling the delicacies she learned to make during her stay at the convent. You can read more about this amazing, resilient women here.
The following are step by step instructions with images to guide you through this recipe. Please scroll to the end of this post for the detailed printable recipe card.
How to make Genovesi Ericine – Sicilian Pastry Recipe
Prepare the pastry cream (crema pasticcera)
In a small sauce pan, heat milk and a strip of lemon peel. Do not bring to a boil. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Pour half the warm milk into the egg mixture and whisk.
Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan with the remaining milk. Place on the burner over medium-high heat and whisk continuously until it comes to a gentle boil and thickens, about 5 minutes.
Immediately take the pan off the heat to avoid scorching the milk. Force the mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to remove any lumps. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to avoid forming a skin while it cools. Refrigerate until completely cooled while you prepare the pastry.
Prepare the pastry
In the bowl of your food processor add cubed butter and sugar. Blend until smooth. Add an egg; vanilla extract; baking powder and a pinch of salt. Process until fully incorporated. Add sifted flour in 2 batches and process until a dough is formed and wraps itself around the blade. 
Shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.
To assemble:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 4 pieces. Keep the remaining pieces well wrapped in the refrigerator until ready to use. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the dough to a 3 mm thickness. Use a 3-inch doughnut or cookie cutter to cut out an even number of circles.
Top half the circles with a heaping teaspoon of chilled pastry cream.
Place another circle of dough on top and gently press the edges together to seal. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
Reroll scraps of dough and continue cutting circles until you have used up all the dough.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until lightly golden underneath. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before dusting with powdered sugar. 
Recipe Notes
On handling the pastry:
- If the dough is difficult to roll and falls apart, place back in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, I prefer to keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For the pastry cream:
- If the pastry cream becomes too runny while you are assembling the cookies, place in the freezer for 5 minutes, then resume filling the cookies.
- Resist the temptation to over fill the genovesi or the pastry cream will ooze out while baking.
Can Genovesi Ericini be frozen?
Yes they can! Place Genovesi Ericini without powdered sugar in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature for 2 hours and dust with powdered sugar before serving.
To store:
- Store at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage keep refrigerated (due to the pastry cream) for up to 5 days.
If you give this recipe a try, let me know how much you enjoyed it by giving it a rating in the recipe card below. Feel free to Pin it for later. Buon appetito!
More delicious Italian cookie recipes for you to check out!
- Italian Nut and Jam Rolled Cookies
- Easy Anise Biscotti Recipe
- Biscotti di San Martino
- Chewy Amaretti
- Classic Almond Biscotti and Variations
- Italian Pizzelle Cookies
- Sheet Pan Almond Biscotti
- Tetù (Sicilian Chocolate Spice Cookies)
- Italian Breakfast Cookies
- Pistachio Amaretti
- Italian Lemon Glazed Cookies
- Chocolate Espresso Amaretti
- Italian Orange Juice Cookies
Tried this recipe?Mention @mangiabedda or tag #mangiabedda!
Genovesi Ericine - Sicilian Pastry Recipe
Genovesi Ericine are pastries made famous by Maria Grammitico's pasticceria located in the hilltop town of Erice in Sicily. Buttery shortcrust pastry filled with lemon scented pastry cream and dusted with powdered sugar. A scrumptious treat to enjoy with coffee or cappuccino!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
Resting time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 2 hours hours 35 minutes minutes
Course: Italian desserts
Cuisine: Sicilian-Italian
Keyword: Genovesi pastry, shortbread cookies filled with lemony pastry cream
Servings: 30 cookies
Calories: 147kcal
Author: Nadia Fazio
Ingredients
For the pastry cream
- 2 cups milk
- strip of lemon peel
- 4 large egg yolks
- 6 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 8 tbsp. all-purpose flour
For the pastry
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
For dusting
- powdered sugar
Instructions
Prepare the pastry cream (crema pasticcera)
In a small sauce pan, heat milk and a strip of lemon peel. Do not bring to a boil. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Add flour and whisk until smooth.
Pour half the warm milk into the egg mixture and whisk together. Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan with the remaining milk.
Place back on the burner over medium-high heat and whisk continuously until it comes to a gentle boil and thickens, about 5 minutes. Immediately take it off the heat to avoid scorching the milk.
Force the mixture through a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to remove any lumps. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to avoid forming a skin while it cools.
Refrigerate until completely cooled while you prepare the pastry.
Prepare the pastry
To the bowl of your food processor add cubed butter and sugar. Blend until smooth.
Add an egg; vanilla extract; baking powder and a pinch of salt. Process until fully incorporated.
Add sifted flour in 2 batches and process until a dough is formed and wraps itself around the blade.
Shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.
To assemble:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 4 pieces. Keep the remaining pieces well wrapped and in the refrigerator until ready to use. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll the dough to a 3 mm thickness.
Use a 3-inch doughnut or cookie cutter to cut out an even number of circles. Top half the circles with a heaping teaspoon of chilled pastry cream. Place another circle on top and gently press the edges together to seal. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
Reroll scraps of dough and continue cutting circles until you have used up all the dough.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until lightly golden underneath. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before dusting with powdered sugar.
Notes
On handling the pastry:
- If the dough is difficult to roll and falls apart, place back in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, I prefer to keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For the pastry cream:
- If the pastry cream becomes too runny while you are assembling the cookies, place in the freezer for 5 minutes, then resume filling the cookies.
- Resist the temptation to over fill the genovesi or the pastry cream will ooze out while baking.
Can Genovesi Ericini be frozen?
Yes they can! Place Genovesi Ericini without powdered sugar in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature for 2 hours and dust with powdered sugar before serving.
How to store Genovesi Ericini:
- Store at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage keep refrigerated (due to the pastry cream) for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 147kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 257IU | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg
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