Papassini

Papassini are baked sweets with raisins, made on the island of Sardinia, Italy. Some are made by baking dough cut into diamond shapes, covering it with white icing and decorating it with small, colorful sugar sprinkles. The name comes from papassa, the Sardinian word for raisins.

A dough with raisins and nuts

The dough is made with flour, sugar, eggs and fat, with raisins and almonds mixed in. In one example, the raisins are rehydrated and the almonds are coarsely chopped and scattered through the dough, which is rested, rolled out, cut into diamonds and baked. Once cooled, the sweets are covered with an icing called cappa, made from egg white and powdered sugar. They are cooled before decorating so that heat remaining in the dough does not melt the icing. Raisins and nuts are dotted through the baked dough, adding sweetness and texture.

The method recorded by the Region of Sardinia also includes sapa, made by boiling down pressed grape juice. On the other hand, some versions are not iced and some do not include sapa. In Campidano, spices such as cinnamon are used, while in Barbagia and Logudoro there are examples flavored with citrus or wild fennel. The sweet is made throughout the island, but its aroma and finish differ from household to household.

An example made by setting aside some fermented bread dough

As an old method from Scano di Montiferro, the region’s agricultural agency has recorded an example in which part of the fermented dough was set aside for sweets when bread was baked at home. Lard, walnuts, homemade raisins and fennel seeds were added to it, and after resting, it was shaped into logs, cut into small pieces and baked. This is one example that differs in both dough and finish from the diamond-shaped sweets decorated with icing.

Days for remembering the dead

Papassini have been made for All Saints’ Day on November 1 and the following day’s commemoration of the dead. Accounts of Sardinian culture describe a custom in which children went from house to house asking for gifts in remembrance of the dead. The names differ from area to area, and papassini were sometimes handed out along with bread, nuts and raisins. In Scano di Montiferro, it is recorded that on the night of November 1, this sweet was placed on the table for deceased family members, along with pasta, wine, nuts and dried fruit. Today, papassini can also be found in pastry shops and stores on the island.

Glossary