092Cretan cheese pastries

Method

Baked sweet Cretan lychnarakia. Makes about 20 to 24 individual pastries; serve at room temperature with Greek coffee or raki.

You will need

• rolling pin
• 8-10 cm round pastry cutter
• two large baking trays
• baking paper
• pastry brush
• mixing bowls

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two large baking trays with baking paper. 10 min · 180°C / 350°F Ready when: oven reaches steady temperature
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with 80 g sugar, olive oil, tsikoudia, and milk until smooth, then stir in the baking powder and gradually knead in the flour to form a smooth, pliable dough. 7 min Ready when: dough is soft, elastic, and does not stick to hands
3. Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and leave it to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. 20 min Ready when: dough relaxes and softens
4. In a second bowl, thoroughly mix the mashed mizithra with 120 g sugar, thyme honey, 1 egg yolk, and the minced fresh spearmint if using, working it into a thick, cohesive paste. 4 min Ready when: cheese filling is completely smooth and creamy
5. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 2 mm and cut out circles approximately 8 to 10 cm in diameter using a pastry cutter. 8 min Ready when: neat, even pastry rounds
6. Place 1 generous tablespoon of cheese filling in the centre of each round, leaving a 1.5 cm border exposed all around. 4 min Ready when: filling mounded neatly in the centre
7. Lift the edges of the pastry upward against the filling and pinch the dough at close regular intervals using your thumb and index finger to create small, upright fluted pleats resembling a tiny open lantern (lychnaraki). 10 min Ready when: firm pleated pastry rim holding the filling inside
8. Transfer the pastries onto the prepared trays, brush the exposed dough and cheese tops with beaten egg, and dust the centres with ground cinnamon. 3 min Ready when: glossy surface lightly freckled with cinnamon
9. Bake in the centre of the oven for 22 to 25 minutes, until the pastry edges are crisp and golden and the cheese filling has lightly puffed and set. 25 min · 180°C / 350°F Ready when: deep golden pastry with set domed centres
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving, optionally drizzling with warm thyme honey. 15 min Ready when: pastries cool to a crisp, tender bite

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Make ahead and storing

Dough and filling can be prepared several hours ahead and assembled just before baking.

Store in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Substitutions

• whole milk ricotta mixed with a small portion of soft goat curd for fresh sweet mizithra (or fresh ricotta). Ricotta should be drained overnight in cheesecloth to remove excess moisture.
• ouzo or brandy for tsikoudia (or raki). Provides the essential alcohol that prevents excess gluten development, yielding a crisper, flakier pastry shell.

Common mistakes

• Using wet, watery cheese. Excess liquid in the filling will cause the pastry cups to collapse, leak, and turn soggy during baking.
• Pinching the dough pleats too loosely. As the cheese filling expands in the oven, weak pleats will unfold, leaving flat discs instead of distinct lantern shapes.

Regional variants

• Kalitsounia tiganita: folded into half-moon parcels filled with sour mizithra (xinomyzithra) or wild greens, pan-fried in olive oil.
• Chaniotika kalitsounia: flavoured distinctly with crushed mastic and orange blossom water in western Crete.

About the dish

Kalitsounia are Crete's most celebrated pastry, made in various sweet and savoury incarnations across the island. The name is believed to derive from the Venetian calzone, reflecting centuries of Venetian rule over Crete. While fried savoury versions with wild greens or sour mizithra are common everyday fare, sweet baked kalitsounia, specifically shaped into pleated little lanterns called lychnarakia, are the crowning pastry of Cretan Easter. Filled with fresh sweet goat-and-sheep's milk mizithra, perfumed with cinnamon and citrus, they celebrate the return of dairy at the end of Great Lent.

Found in Crete. Cooked for easter, sunday lunch, everyday.

Cousins elsewhere

• Pardulas (Italian). Sardinian pinched pastry cups filled with fresh ricotta, citrus zest, and saffron share an almost identical structure with Cretan lychnarakia.
• Flaounes (Cypriot). Both are festive Easter pastries enclosing local fresh spring cheeses in scented pastry casings.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

793 kcal · protein 33.2 g · fat 37.4 g (saturated 19.1 g) · carbohydrate 79.6 g (sugars 31.4 g) · fibre 1.7 g · sodium 1332 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. The festive Easter pastry tradition of Crete, featuring pinched open lychnarakia pastry cases filled with fresh springtime sweet sheep and goat whey cheese..

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