Let’s Make Mauritian Napolitaines

What are Napolitaines?

Napolitaine is a popular sweet treat that Mauritians love to enjoy with a nice cup of Bois Cheri tea. A napolitaine is traditionally made up of two circular melt-in-your-mouth buttery shortbread cookies with strawberry jam sandwiched between them, topped with a layer of sweet pink sugar icing. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

Where to buy Napolitaines in Mauritius:

You can buy napolitaines everywhere: in small shops called Tabagies, at pastry shops (patisseries), in supermarkets and even in food courts. Make sure to try them when you’re on the island!

And if you aren’t in Mauritius and your sweet tooth demands a Napolitaine cookie or two, here is an easy recipe. We aren’t bakers and we managed to make these twice with success, so get your aprons on and make some Mauritian Napolitaine cookies with us!

How to make your own Napolitaine cookies from scratch:

We followed this recipe but made just a few changes.

Ingredients for about 20 napolitaine cookies:

• 375g unsalted butter
• 500g plain flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• raspberry jam
• 400g icing sugar
• pink food colouring

Start out by mixing the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add the softened butter and combine everything.

After 5 to 10 minutes of mixing, form a soft ball with the dough and wrap it in plastic film. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This will make the dough easier to work with in the next stage.

After the dough has been chilled, take it out and place it on a surface for rolling that has been lightly dusted with flour. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius or 320 degrees fahrenheit.

Roll out your dough evenly about 0.5cm to 1cm. Try to make it as even as you can so that all the cookies need the same amount of time in the oven. Use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes that you want, keeping in mind that you need two of the same to make one napolitaine cookie. If you don’t have cookie cutters, you can use a glass. Place the cut-out shapes onto a tray, lined with parchment paper.

We baked our cookies for about 30 minutes, instead of the 15-20 minutes the recipe called for. You can check if they are ready by pressing gently in the middle of the cookie. If the cookies are no longer soft, you know they are ready.

Once you take them out of the oven, allow them to cool on a rack.

Once they are no longer warm, spoon 1/2 tsp of jam in the centre of one cookie, then place the other cookie gently on it. Place the cookie sandwich on a grill, with a tray underneath.

Don’t they look so pretty and delicious?

Prepare the icing by mixing the sifted icing sugar, 7 tbsp of water and food colouring in a sauce pan, over a very low heat. Stir well until you have a thick syrup consistency. Now, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for: gently spoon generous amounts of the icing onto the cookies and ta-da!!! Your two shortbread cookies and jam have been transformed into gorgeous Mauritian napolitaines!

Let them cool down before enjoying them with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Mauritian Napolitaine Recipe

20 Napolitaine cookies

Ingredients:

• 375g unsalted butter
• 500g plain flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• raspberry jam
• 400g icing sugar
• pink food colouring

Instructions:

• In a bowl, mix the flour and salt.
• Add the softened butter and mix until well until combined (5 to 10 minutes).
• Shape the dough into a soft ball.
• Wrap it in plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out the dough evenly, about 0.5 to 1 cm thick
• Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter or a glass
• Place on a tray lined with parchment paper
• Bake for 30 minutes, making sure not to over bake them (if the middle is no longer soft when you press it, it’s ready)
• Let the cookies cool down on a rack
• Spoon 1/2 tsp of jam in the center of one cookie
• Gently place another cookie on top and press lightly
• Place on a grill with a baking tray beneath
• Add the sifted icing sugar, food colouring and 7 tbsp of water in a sauce pan
• Place on low heat, and stir well until everything is combined and the sugar has dissolved into a thick syrup.
• Stir vigorously until well combined. Remove from heat
• Immediately pour or spoon the liquid over the cookies, coating them in one go
• Let the icing cool until firm and enjoy!