Pieta

By CathyRice

On New Year's Day, Grandma Nicola made pieta with a coin (usually a silver dollar) baked in it. The pieta was cut into the number of family members, with a piece for the house if needed to make the number of pieces even. Each family member, going from oldest to youngest, chose their own piece. Whoever got the piece with the money would have good luck all year. Papoo never got the money.

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 5 1/2 cups flour
• 1 T salt
• 1/2 egg
• 2 T oil
• OR SUBSTITUTE A PACKAGE OF FILO DOUGH
• ~2 cups lukewarm water
• cornstarch
• 3 sticks of salted butter
• 1 T spry
• Gala:
• 8 eggs and leftover goo from butter
• 2 lb cottage cheese
• 1 T salt

Preparation

Step 1

Mix the dough ingredients and knead, adding ~ 2 cups lukewarm water gradually until soft and moist. Place in plastic bag for a few minutes.

Melt 3 sticks of butter and spry and skim off top

Cut dough into ~20 pieces.
Roll dough (use cornstarch). Stretch dough and apply butter to each layer except the last one. Stack these.
Then roll out to size of pan.

To make filling (gala):
Beat 8 eggs and then add other ingredients.

Bake at 400 for 10 min then 375 for 20 minutes. Cool before cutting into squares.