This is a traditional Easter dessert from Favara, Italy on the island of Sicily where my Nonna is from. “Agnello Pasquale” means “lamb of Easter” in Italian. It’s made with ground almonds, ground pistachios, sugar, and lots of love. To make it you need a special mold to shape it into a lamb. After it’s shaped into a lamb, you can paint a face onto it using melted chocolate. We also add a little bell around its neck and a small Italian flag on it’s back. We decorate the plate with more almond paste dyed green to look like grass and some jelly beans. My favorite part is making the lamb’s wool.
Ingredients
Almond Mixture
4 pounds raw almonds, shelled
3 pounds granulated sugar
2 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pistachio Mixture
1 pound raw pistachio shelled
1/2 pound granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups water
Glaze
powdered sugar
water
Preparation
The process of preparing the Agnello Pasquale takes a few days. You will need to dry the almonds for 24 hours, then allow the mixture to set another 24 hours. If you use unshelled nuts, allow for extra time to remove the shells.
Day 1 – Prepare the almonds: Blanch the almonds, let them cool, and remove the skins. Spread them on a pan and set aside for at least 24 hours to dry. The final weight should be measured once they’re dried.
Day 2 – Prepare the mixture: Using a food processor, chop the almonds finely and set aside. Repeat with the pistachio nuts.
You will need to make two separate batches of syrup. Boil the sugar in the water, stirring constantly. The syrup is ready when you can stretch a drop of the syrup between your thumb and index finger to form a string without it breaking. Add the vanilla, and mix with the ground almonds. Repeat the same procedure for the pistachios. Set the two aside overnight to let the sugar harden.
Day 3 – Sculpt and Decorate: At this point, the sugar has hardened and the almonds and pistachio are rather firm. Starting with the almond paste; pass it through a meat grinder to soften the mixture and make it more workable. Do the same with the pistachio mixture.
Now begin forming the lambs using a clay mold (Nonna got hers in Favara). Sprinkle the inside of the mold with cornstarch or line it with plastic wrap. Take one third of the almond mixture and create two equal sized logs. Press one log into each side of the mold, making sure the mixture makes it into the deep crevices.
Create another thinner log with one third of the pistachio mixture and place it on one half of the mold. Now join the two halves of the mold and carefully form the shape of the lamb, using your fingers to press together the seam where the two halves joined. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Place the lambs on individual serving dishes.
Create the glaze by stirring together powdered sugar and warm water. Adjust ingredients as necessary to make the consistency of the mixture thin and brush it over the surface of the lambs.
Make another batch of glaze, but make the consistency slightly thicker so you can use it as a glue to add decorations. The Casa family usually decorates them with a small Italian flag planted in the back of the lamb with a toothpick. Silver sugar pearls are glued on the lamb’s body using the sugar mixture. A small piece of red ribbon is used to make a bowtie, and melted chocolate is used to draw in the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears on the lamb’s head. Green food coloring is added to some of the thicker sugar mixture to create grass on the serving dish, and jelly beans are scattered around the grass.
Serve the agnello in slices, starting from the tail.
