Napolitaine Recipe: Mauritius’ Pink Jam Shortbread Biscuits

A Mauritian napolitaine is two shortbread biscuits sandwiched with jam and covered in pink icing. The dough takes just three ingredients (250 g flour, 175 g butter and a pinch of salt), rests for 30 minutes and bakes for about 20 minutes at 180 °C, without taking any colour. Assembling and letting the icing set takes longer than the baking.

What a napolitaine is

Despite the name, the Mauritian napolitaine is simply two round shortbread biscuits with jam in the middle and a white or pale pink glaze on top. It turns up at family tea-times and at receptions alike.

A Mauritian baker quoted in a food magazine calls it the “national pastry” and says it is traditionally handed out to schoolchildren for Independence Day. The same article traces it back to the island’s French period, which began in 1715. None of the recipes we read names an inventor or a date, and none links it to the city of Naples, so it is safest not to claim a more precise history.

Ingredients

Quantities for ten to fifteen napolitaines, depending on how thick you roll the dough and how wide you cut the rounds.

The dough

• 250 g plain flour
• 175 g soft butter (one published recipe also allows margarine)
• 1 pinch of salt

Filling and icing

• jam: strawberry, raspberry or guava, about 1 teaspoon per biscuit
• 280 g icing sugar
• 6 tablespoons lukewarm water (or milk)
• 2 to 3 drops of red food colouring, for a pale pink

Step by step

1. Make the dough

Work the flour, butter and salt together with your fingertips until you have a smooth ball. Do not add water: the butter is enough to bind it. Wrap the dough and chill it for 30 minutes.

2. Roll and cut

Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Published recipes range from 3 mm to 1 cm thick; aim for about 4 mm for a thin biscuit that stays crumbly. Cut rounds about 5 cm across with a cutter or a glass, re-rolling the offcuts. Cut an even number, since each napolitaine needs two.

3. Bake until pale

Put the rounds on a tray lined with baking paper and bake at 180 °C for about 20 minutes. They should stay a very pale beige. Let them cool completely before filling, otherwise the jam runs and the icing melts.

4. Add the jam

Spread about a teaspoon of jam on half of the biscuits, then top each with a second round.

5. Ice

Mix the icing sugar, lukewarm water and colouring until smooth and thick enough to coat without running off. Add the colouring a drop at a time and stop as soon as you like the pink. Set the biscuits on a rack over a tray, spoon about a tablespoon of icing over each one and reuse whatever drips off. Leave them for about 30 minutes, or until the icing is dry to the touch.

Three recipes, one base

The proportions barely change from one recipe to the next. The main differences are how thick the dough is and how runny the icing is.

The recipe above takes the dough from the first two, the middle thickness of the second and the icing from the third.

Variations

For the jam, recipes mention strawberry, raspberry and guava. A baker interviewed by a magazine prefers a thinner glaze than the traditional one. One recipe adds rum to the dough and another adds vanilla to the icing. One of them colours the icing in four different shades.

Storing them

None of the recipes we read gives a storage time. The only tip: one recipe suggests leaving the finished napolitaines to rest in the fridge. If they have been waiting for several days, taste one before serving.

What to serve with them

Napolitaines are served at tea-time or at receptions. For something savoury from the island’s kitchen, try gâteaux piments, or biryani for a festive dish. More specialities are collected in our guide to Mauritian cuisine.

To put the napolitaine in context, see Mauritian traditions and the list of public holidays, which includes Independence Day.

Sources and checks

• Expat.com — napolitains recipe in the colours of Mauritius
• A Taste of Harmony — napolitaine cakes
• Cuizine Maurice — napolitaine
• WA Good Food Guide — profile of a Mauritian baker