World Flavours: from Mauritius, THE NAPOLITAINES

Since we've started our section Gourmet Traveler/ World Flavours, we've received tons of emails with even more recipes to share. We want to thank all of our subscribers for all the love and sharing, we promise to read all of them and we will be picking several to post ;)

Today we focus on Mauritian gastronomy. It is as diversified as the inhabitants of this small tropical island: Creole, Indian, Chinese, European, or simply a mix and match of all those cultures and tastes, you have to taste them all.

(To learn 10 reasons why you absolutely must visit Mauritius, click here).

To start this journey, we decided to bring you one of our favorite recipes:

Napolitaines (Gateaux Napolitaines), a light and delicate sandwich cookies from this paradise Island to pair with a delicious tea.

Method: Makes approx 6

INGREDIENTS

• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature

• 200g plain flour

• 2 tbs strawberry jam (or jam of choice)

• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted

• 12 tsp hot water

• Pink Food colouring

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark  2 1/2

2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, then cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour.

Using your fingertips mix the butter into the flour, to make fine breadcrumbs.

3. Bring the mixture together into a dough, do not knead, leave to rest for 15 minutes.

4. Place a piece of baking sheet/greaseproof paper on a greased baking tray.

5. Place a large sheet of greaseproof on a work surface and place the dough ball on top, then another piece of baking sheet over it. Roll the dough about 1cm thick.

6. Using a 5cm sized round cutter, cut out the dough and place on the greased baking tray ready to go in the oven. Leave a little space in between each shortbread.

7. Bake in the over for approx 15 minutes or till lightly golden, do not let them get too dark, we want them to be flaky and crumbly.

8. Take out of the oven and allow to cool before adding the jam. In the meantime make the pink icing, firstly mix the icing sugar in a bowl with the hot water and stir till a thick consistency but easy enough to spread.  Add a few drops of pink colouring to the icing and stir till mixed through.

9. When the biscuits have cooled, spread jam onto half the biscuits and sandwich with the others, spread the top side of the biscuits with the pink icing and leave to dry before eating. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

PRO TIP: Make sure cookies are cooled before you attempt to remove them, or else they’ll crumble. Run a knife underneath them in case they may break using your fingertips.

Now, the Tea:

You can't eat these cookies without a good tea (hot or cold, it's your choice). And if it's one that eliminates those extra pounds that are starting to annoy, even better! - right?

Traveling the world through food is awesome but it can result in a few pounds more, so we leave you our absolute choice: a home made tea with ingredients you already have in your own kitchen that is not only delicious but vegan and vegetarian safe, absolutely healthy and totally natural, with the added bonus of improving your sleep, your mental focus and prevents several diseases.

To learn more, click here.

xoxo

Deluxe Vacations Club Team