If you follow this blog, you will be already familiar with sofficini, as I have published a Ham and Cheese Sofficini recipe a while ago. For all the others who still do not know them, sofficini are delicious pockets of crunchy (yet soft) dough filled with all sorts of scrumptious cheesey goodies. These are usually sold frozen by a well known brand in Italy and they are some of the most loved food by Italian children. I have eaten all sorts of sofficini while growing up, and really miss them here in Australia. So, I have resorted to making them at home. And they taste even better than the store bought version! One of my favourite sofficini fillings has always been mushrooms. I love how well the mushrooms go with cheese and béchamel! The result is so creamy and gooey and they taste so good. I always make extra and freeze them, so I have them ready whenever I need a quick lunch or dinner. This is some of my favourite comfort food! Enjoy and buon appetito!
Mushroom Sofficini
Step by step instructions on how to make Mushroom Sofficini: delicious pockets of crunchy dough filled with creamy mushrooms, cheese and béchamel!
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup flour sifted
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
Filling
- 300 gms – 10 oz. mixed mushrroms I used porcini and button mushrooms
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 200 ml – 6.5 oz. béchamel sauce
- 6 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Coating
- 1 egg. beaten
- Breadcrumbs to coat
Instructions
Filling
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Chop the garlic clove and put it in a non stick frying pan with the extra virgin olive oil and let it fry on a low fire for 1 minute.
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Add the sliced mushrooms and let them cook for 2-3 minutes.
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Put the fire off and keep it aside.
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In the meantime prepare the béchamel sauce by following this recipe.
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Mix the béchamel sauce and the mushrooms, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep aside to cool down.
Dough
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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.
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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.
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Assembling and Coating
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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 13 cm – 5 inches in diameter.
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Place some mushroom filling in one half of each circle, fold the other half over it and seal them well by pressing the edges closed with your fingers.
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Beat the egg in a bowl and add salt to it and put the breadcrumbs in a separate plate.
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Dip each sofficino in the egg and then coat it well with breadcrumbs, pressing with your palm so the crumbs stick well to it.
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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.
Recipe Notes
You can also freeze the sofficini uncooked. Wrap them individually in cling wrap and then put them in a Ziploc bag. You can cook them from frozen whenever you want to.
Those are spectacular!
Now, back in Brazil we have a very large proportion of Italian immigrants, and many neighborhoods in Sao Paulo are pretty much like Italy Town, celebrating all the Italian festivities (usually associated with Catholic church). These are very popular and in Brazil are known as “rissoles” – the dough is exactly the same. The filling varies a lot, but the most popular is ground beef. Hearts of palm in bechamel sauce are popular too, in a Brazilian-take on this classic Italian concoction
I haven’t made them in a looooong while, but growing up my Mom had a maid who made huge batches from scratch on special weekends…. ah, memories!
OOH, these look fabulous! I’ll definitely try my hand at making them, soon!
Thanks Manu for bringing me back in time! These were a super-successful product in the 80’s, even your photography and presentation reminded me of the way they were showing them on TV 🙂 I love the idea of making them from scratch, definitely at a whole new level.
Mamma mia quanto sono buoni, bravissima e grazie per la preziosa ricetta.
Buon fine settimana
Ciao
you mentioned flour, what type of flour ( plain or self raising ). thanks Kaye
Hi Kaye! It’s plain flour. 🙂
These savory morsels would really hit the spot… do you ship abroad by any chance?
Manuela, I have never tasted sofficini, but it sure looks yummy!
Crunchy pockets of mushroom-y sauce sounds divine.
I want to try making these tonight! But I can’t decide whether I want to fry or bake them…
Did these and they’re yummy …..