Bocconotti Calabresi

I was reading a book set in Italy, and they mentioned baking and eating bocconotti. I had to learn what bocconotti were (small bites!) and then found a recipe to try out.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 2 cups (8,5 ounces, 240 gr) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces, 100 gr) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• Grated zest of 1 orange (or lemon)
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pats
• 1 large egg
• 2 egg yolks

Filling:

• 3 ounces of almond flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 ounces dark chocolate (I used 6 tablespoons cocoa powder, 6 tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons coconut oil)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Add Ins for Second Filling:

• 2 eggs
• 3 rounded tablespoons cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 2.5 ounces butterscotch chips
• 1 ounce almond flour

Instructions:

1. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and zest in a food processor.
2. Pulse several times to blend.
3. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture turns to coarse crumbs.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolks.
5. With the food processor running, add the eggs to the flour mix.
6. Pulse and process until the dough comes together.
7. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and press it into a short slab.
8. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 375° F
10. Spray 40 wells of two 24 count mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
11. Place all the dry filling ingredients in a food processor and pulse them together until they are well combined and finely chopped. 
12. Beat the egg whites and vanilla together until stiff peaks form.
13. Fold in the dry ingredients in the egg whites, about ¼ at a time.
    
    
    
    
14. Divide the dough into 40 portions, about 13 grams or 1/2 ounce (~3/4 of a small cookie scoop)
15. Put one or two balls at a time on plastic wrap, and cover with more plastic wrap.
16. Press each ball into a 2.25 circle (I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to press to the correct size.)
    
    
    
    
17. Drape each circle into the well of a mini muffin pan, smoothing edges.
    
    
    
    
18. Place a heaped tablespoon (small cookie scoop) of filling in each shell of the first pan.
19. Bake first pan at 375F for 15 to 18 minutes until the dough is lightly colored.
20. In a food processor, mix together second filling add ins.
21. Mix in leftover filling. For me, this refreshed filling was much lighter and wetter.
22. Use 1 small cookie scoop of the 'refreshed' filling to fill the wells of the second mini muffin pan.
23. When the first pan is finished, bake the second pan.
24. Cool the baked bocconoti in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes so.
25. When cool, remove the bocconotti from the pan.
26. Optionally dust with powder sugar.

 

Carole's Notes:

We liked this!

Note: I did not have the dark chocolate, so I used a substitution for chocolate. I think the filling for the first batch was too solid, sort of like playdough consistency. After I put the first pan in the oven, I looked for something to finish filling the rest of the shells, since I could tell I would be short on filling. I did have some butterscotch chips - but they are really sweet. So I improvised, and mixed the 'add ins' into the remaining filling. I liked the second filling better - it was better, and baked up fluffier. Doug seemed to like both just fine.

Recommendation: Use actual semi-sweet chocolate for the filling in the future.

The recipe is lightly adapted from https://www.cookingwithrosetta.com/blogposts/bocconotti-calabresi and https://www.mangiabenepasta.com/bocconotti.html