Rosina Gschwind's Osterfladen
Sam doesn’t like rice pudding.
He doesn’t even like it when it’s disguised as something else, like the filling for Osterfladen, Switzerand’s favourite Easter baked good.
Luckily, there are a few legitimate variations that rice pudding-haters can use to fill their tart. I’ve made the traditional semolina filling, and even a filling involving Weggli, little Swiss milk buns.
This year, I thought my rice-free filling plans would be scuppered (and I resigned myself to having to eat basically the whole pie myself, without Sam’s help) when I came across Rosina Gschwind’s variation in her seminal 550 Rezepte von Frau Pfarrer Gschwind. Her Osterfladen bypassed a starchy filling completely, in favour of lots more cream. And a flaky puff pastry base.
Who was Rosina Gschwind?
A teacher and authority on cooking and household management, Rosina Gschwind lived during the latter part of the 19th century and helped found two schools on domestic management for women. More on her here.
Her Osterfladen is deliciously creamy, and very rich, owing to the puff pastry. Even an old friend who normally pooh-poohs the Easter classic was won over by this flaky variant. And Sam was delighted too, not a kernel of rice in sight.
puff pastry to line a 26 cm (10 inch) tart pan (around 220 g)
3 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
zest of one lemon
250 ml cream
100 g ground almonds
100 g raisins
Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F / gas mark 6.
Roll out your dough and line a 26 cm (10 inch) round tart pan. Poke the bottom of the dough all over with a fork.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and cream. Stir in the almonds and raisins.
Spread this filling over the pastry base.
Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the bottom is baked through.
Decorate with icing sugar.
I had a little bit of extra dough, so I cut out some bunnies and then used them to decorate the top. They take about 8 minutes in the oven.
I like to plump my raisins in advance. You can use booze or tea to do this, just cover the raisins in the liquid and let them sit for an hour or overnight. Strain and add to the recipe as directed.
This puffs up a lot in the oven, and then deflates a few seconds after it comes out.