It seems that the scarpetta originated as a “monastic” dessert (made in a monastery), made by the Benedictine sisters living in Ora, in the Saint Benedict Monastery.
After the sisters’ ecclesiastical assets were confiscated by the Savoy State (between 1861 and 1866), they were forced to leave Oria, but some may have stayed, and kept making this monastic dessert that was later disseminated among Oria’s citizens.
The recipe for this dessert is very simple and so are its ingredients: a mix of the right doses of flour, eggs and sugar results into a soft dough that is then kneaded (the whole process is handmade) into thin disks with a diameter of some 15 cm and, when completely baked, are topped with a thin layer of icing made of water and sugar. The scarpetta was generally served to the sick, since it is easily digestible and highly energetic. It is made all the year round but, according to tradition, is a festival dessert, or rather, an Easter one.
The scarpetta is a key element of Oria’s food heritage and just few pastry-makers preserve its secret recipe nowadays, so that the tradition may come to an end.
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