After moving to Australia I haven’t been able to eat many of the dishes I grew up with as they simply do not exist. If you have ever moved internationally, you will know the feeling… At the beginning you do not miss the food you left behind as you are too busy discovering all the new dishes and flavours of your new home, but after a while you start feeling the need for some of the “old comfort food” you were used to eating. So what do you do when you cannot find it in the stores? Exactly… you make it at home! Sofficini are usually sold frozen by a well known brand in Italy and I don’t think I exaggerate if I say that everybody in Italy has eaten them at least once. They are convenient, like all frozen food, since they can be cooked at the last minute for lunch or dinner on a busy day and it is a dish you know your kids will LOVE and will not fuss about. I grew up eating my fair share of sofficini and have tasted all the varieties they come in: with cheese, cheese and ham, cheese and eggplant, cheese and spinach, cheese and mushrooms… They are all delicious. But even though I have eaten them so often I had never wondered how they were made… and had never even contemplated making them at home! A few weeks ago, l stumbled upon this recipe on an Italian blog and the sofficini looked so similar to the ones I used to buy that I HAD to try making them. Well, the result was outstanding and I might add that these home-made sofficini taste even better… like all home-made things! Not only, they are also easy to make and you can make a few extra and freeze them, so you can have them ready whenever you need a quick fix. You can fill them with almost anything, but this time I have tried them with ham and cheese. These are as big as the original sofficini (about 13 cm/5 inches) and they are great as a main dish served with a salad, but you could even make them smaller and serve them as appetizers. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Misya.info
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 cup flour, sifted
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
150 gms – 5 oz. cheese (Gouda or Swiss or sweet provolone), minced
150 ml – 5 oz. béchamel sauce
150 gms – 5 oz. ham, minced
1 egg
Breadcrumbs to coat
Put the milk, butter and salt in a pot and put it on the fire. As soon as it boils, put the fire off and add the sifted flour. Mix well with a wooden spoon until well combined. You will obtain a pliable dough.
As soon as the dough is safe to handle with your hands, put it on a lightly floured surface and knead it until smooth and soft.
Make a ball and wrap it in cling paper. Let it rest at room temperature until completely cool.
Now roll the dough into a 3mm – 0.12 inches thick sheet. Do it on a sheet of baking paper, to make sure it does not stick. Cut out circles of 13cm – 5 inches in diameter.
Place some cheese, ham and 1 tbsp of béchamel sauce in one half of each circle, fold the other half over it and seal them well by pressing the edges closed with your fingers.
Beat the egg in a bowl and add salt to it and put the breadcrumbs in a separate plate.
Dip each sofficino in the egg and then coat it well with breadcrumbs, pressing with your palm so the crumbs stick well to it.
Shallow fry them in warm vegetable oil. Or bake them in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes, but spray them with some extra virgin olive oil before baking them.
NOTE: You can also freeze the sofficini uncooked. Wrap them individually in cling wrap and then put them in a ziplog bag. You can cook them from frozen whenever you want to.
I know that feeling.. after I moved to Australia I can’t even find some products that liked and used..
It’s a nice dish..they are almost like dumplings.
I can see why you missed these, they look amazing. Love the look of the filling oozing out onto the plate, yummy. Also, I think more sugar may have helped by Cranberry Orange bars. I just didn’t want to tinker with them too much the first time around.
I know exactly what you mean about missing foods from home. Germany to U.S. was similar for me. For a while it was great and exciting, now I get cravings and try to make do.
These look fantastic, by the way!
Hot stuff! Those look so delicious 🙂 They’re kinda like empanadas but even more genius because of the breadcrumbs! <3
You are so right about missing the foods you grew up with. Just moving from Texas to Wisconsin here in the US causes me to not be able to find some of the ingredients for dishes I loved in Texas.
My daughter lives in England, and I have to mail certain foods to her now and then.
You seriously made sofficini? I wouldn’t even know where to star from! Those are amazing! My favorite used to be with mushrooms. I have to make them one of these days. I’m sure the BF would appreciate!
This is food worth missing!! Looks so delicious and comforting 🙂
These look stunning. I’ve never had them and I’ve just developed a homesick longing for them. Definitely making these, Manu.
I am always whipping up ham and cheese something-in a tortilla, in a croissant..but the toasty bread on these has put those to shame. Love the preparation method of the breadcrumbs and frying-I will definitely try these. Thanks for sharing-yum!
These look amazing. I also miss a lot of food from home and second home.:-) but I could totally get spoiled with Italian food and easy to get used to. These sofficinis are mouthwatering. Thanks for sharing the idea and process of making them.
Oh, my! These look outstanding…all that gooey cheese…mmmmmmm. I couldn’t say no to one of these beauties and I see why you miss them 🙂
I completely understand what you mean by missing food from back home. This dish definitely sounds like something worth missing!
Sofficini sounds so comforting – something I’d love to bite into a lousy day to make me feel better. Will definitely try this one out! I can almost feel the sauce oozing out on the last picture…
This looks so yummy! It’s like a mini calzone. I have never had one before but I definitely want to try this out.
I had the exact same feeling when I switched to gluten free diet. But then gradually I discovered to create new recipes. I can now make empanadas like you have made these lovely sofficini. Some four years back when we visited our family in Sydney and I found they do not have that many variety in grocery items(South Asian) as we do in Canada.
I love your attitude! Adaptability is the key, not just in the kitchen but I believe, right about anywhere. No worries in experimenting, trying out. I will of course try this recipe. Who could ever go wrong with ham and cheese? Thanks for posting!
Manu … mi ha figlia mi ha fatto ridere … mi ha detto … Mamma se i sofficini fossero stati così in Italia li avrei mangiato anch’io!
Sei sempre bravissima!
In the state we have a prepackaged frozen item that is something similar, they are called Hot Pockets..except they aren’t very good. When I moved to Europe, I definitely missed some of the food I was used to, so you get resourceful and make your own. Whatever it takes, right!
They look soooooo delicious! My mum has that problem, she comes from New Zealand and can’t find sea cucumber ANYWHERE…
Wow, these ham and cheese pastries look fabulous, especially with the bechamel sauce…so moist and full of flavor. Love it!
Hope you are having a great week and thanks for this delicious recipe Manu 🙂
Looks so appealing!
questi sofficini farebbero gola anche alla persona più inappetente !!! 🙂
You’re right, everybody in Italy ate his/her fare amount of sofficini, but as a grown up, I believe homemade is better! 🙂
I’ll make them for sure! 🙂
You made ‘sofficini’! I can’t believe I missed this post! These look much better than the original. Awesome work, Manu. Looking forward to other childhood dishes you’re going to revive!
Although I did not grow up eating sofficini, simply because we are not Italian so my mom didn’t really know about them, I did taste them, the tomato&mozzarella variety. They were pretty good. I guess, as you wrote, when something is easy and cheap to purchase, you just don’t think of making it. In this case, la lontananza agguzza l’ingegno. Yours look amazing and are definitely an even better version to give you kids.
I know EXACTLY how you feel!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe from home. It looks delicious, serious comfort food! I love that it is dipped in egg and breadcrumbs before frying.
Oooh this is like a fancy fancy hot pocket! Looks great Manu! Love this kind of comfort food.
YUMMY! Anything with cheese oozing out has my vote! 🙂 I’ve never moved internationally but I do know how hard it is to find some of the things you grew up with when you move. I just moved 2 states over and finding a good gumbo is impossible! It’s a good thing Mama taught me how to make the best gumbo. 🙂
I just made these for lunch and they were absolutely delicious. Can definitely recommend them to everyone.
I’ve never had sofficini before (closest thing we have in the UK are crispy pancakes, which are usually bought frozen and not that great), but they’re now going to be a fairly regular treat.
Lisa
Hi Lisa! So happy you liked my recipe for sofficini! 🙂 They are a very dear dish to me as it is something I grew up with! 🙂
Thank you so much for letting me know and for such a sweet comment! 🙂
I went to Italy for a vacation in 2010 for two months, and my parents, both living and working in Bologna introduced sofficini to me. We used to buy the frozen ones from the grocery and it has grown to become one of my favorite foods. Thank you for posting the recipe, I will try making them for me and my younger brother to enjoy. Grazie mille!