February 5 is the feast day of Saint Agatha, patron saint of Catania, Sicily. Now, that may not mean a hell of a lot to most people, but to many Italian-Americans (who, of course, are mostly Southern Italian) there is the exciting little memory of eating their first Saint Agatha’s nipple, the breast-shaped pastry that was created in the monastery kitchens of Palermo, made its way to Catania, and then landed in Italian pastry shops in New York and elsewhere where Italians wound up in this country. The nipples were very cute, and a little shocking to a kid.
Saint Agatha was born in Catania in the third century, and according to the various versions of her story, she rejected the advances of a Roman prefect, and he began to persecute her for her Christian faith. Among the many tortures she underwent was having her breasts cut off. She is usually depicted in art carrying them on a platter. Of course the disturbingly creative Sicilians turn many urges into things you can put in your mouth, especially if it gives them a chance to demonstrate their love-hate relationship with their religion. So there you have it.
I’ve spent the last week searching around Manhattan for pastry shops that still make Agatha’s signature pastry, which are frequently called minni di virgini (virgin breasts) or casatine (little casatas). They’re most often filled with sweet ricotta and then covered with bright green marzipan and slicked with a shiny coating of white icing and finished with a cherry nipple. I’ve eaten them in Palermo, and I’ve eaten them in Glen Cove, Long Island, and they’re just about the most toothachingly sweet pastry I’ve sunk my weak, filling-laden teeth into. But I loved them.
I made the rounds of all the classic Manhattan Italian shops, and I have to say, now I remember why I stopped going to most of those places.The pastries are mostly terrible and have been getting worse for years. Much of the stuff is now made with inferior ingredients, has a greasy mouth feel, is loaded with chemicals and dyes, and for whatever other reasons just tastes unnatural. I believe this is not just me being a snob; the pastries of my heritage really have gone downhill.
The only shop I could locate that still makes Agatha’s nipples in Manhattan is De Robertis, in the East Village. (I also called shops in Brooklyn and Queens. I didn’t get around to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx because I knew I wasn’t going to make it up there, but they could hold promise.) De Robertis is a beautiful little family-run place, opened in 1904 and left fairly unchanged except for the replacement of the old banquettes in the 1990s. I commend them for carrying on with tradition, but like all the other Italian pastry shops in town, they’ve let their ingredients become way too commercial to produce wonderful pastries. Their ricotta cheesecake now tastes like cream cheese and pastry cream instead of good ricotta, with no hint of the classic orange flower water flavoring that makes the real cake so alluring. Their cookies are full of low-grade chocolate and stale nuts. This didn’t happen overnight, but still, it’s sad to see those beautiful Southern Italian sweets take such a slide.
I sat in De Robertis’s white-and-gold-tiled back room eating my Saint Agatha’s nipple, with it’s day-glo green filling. Wow, is this thing sweet, and a lot more solid than I remember. It looked exactly the same as always, a petite, pretty little white breast with a puffy red nipple, but so dense. I wanted to suggest just a little upgrading of ingredients and a return to a bit of finesse, to make the nipple and all De Robertis’s other sweet things great again, but what would be the point? I was happy just to find one of these somewhere in the city.
Recently Saint Agatha has become the patron saint of breast cancer patients, and since several of my friends have had or are currently having problems in that department, I dedicate my successful search for Agatha’s signature pastry to them.
De Robertis
176 First Avenue (at 13th Street)
New York , N.Y.
(212) 674-7137
Erica De Mane 
Very interesting post! The lowering quality you have noticed is sad. Your experience with extra-sweetness reminded me of my husband’s encounter with Sicilian pastries when we visited Palermo 2 years ago: he got a terrible headache. In any case, I wish I could be in Catania when they celebrate Saint Agatha. It must be a great experience.
About 20 years ago I was in Sambucca di Sicilia, Agrigento, and having sampled many convent bakeries I learned that most small towns have a very distinct specialty bakery … with artisanal skills not found in tourist areas. Don’t appreciate the white marzipan with cherry on top version … true Sicilian pastries are rustic, hand crafted, never uniform or “cutesy”. If you wish to see a photo of Sambucca’s offering … recently posted … will send on hearing from you.
Thanks for your website …
Hi Michele,
I’d love to see your photos. I’m not a huge sweets person and I really prefer all the rustic non gloppy sweets to the elaborate ones. Merry Christmas to you.
Hi Simona,
Thanks so much for your note. You know, the sweetness I expected but it’s the chemical taste of the ingredients that to me is the most troubling, and it does seem that all these shops must buy their bulk stuff from the same cruddy wholesaler. It really makes me so sad. A few years ago I made a return visit to Maria Grammatico’s pastry shop in Erice. Probably you’ve been there as well. You know from just stepping into the shop, even before tasting, the freshness of the almonds, the quality of the honey, the lemons, just from sniffing it in. What would she make of that grout-filled St. Agatha’s pastry I choked down?
I recently wrote about Saint Agatha for Italy Magazine, but your post is much more provocative ;)
Hello,
I was watching a local show and the individuals were at a restuarant in Catania having a sweet morsel named after St Agatha in a breast shape.
Is there a recipe available, this was a yummy looking delight with pistachio just under the icing and a multitude of other ingredients which were unnamed and the camera only panned over quickly so I didn’t get a good look.
Thank you.
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
Since I’m not much of a baker, I’ve never made these Saint Agatha pastries. They’re actually kind of involved, consisting of several different components. They’re much like a mini Casata. But I’ll hunt around and find a good recipe for you.
Best,
Erica
Has a recipe been found?
[…] 11th st.), De Robertis. They have a traditional Italian pastries for a Saint’s day that is shaped like a boob, with a little maraschino nipple, and cookies shaped like human bones. Also Moishe’s Bakery, on 2nd Ave, has a chocolate […]
[…] Saint Anthony has you picking up a loaf of blessed bread from the church. For Saint Agatha, you eat pastry nipples. Think that’s strange? Wait till the feast of Saint Lucy when I give you the recipe for […]
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[…] the bakery, and here’s a good discussion about the pastry in the middle, the St Agatha’s breast. The […]
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[…] Here is a picture of the infamous Saint Agatha nipple pastries, served on February 5, the feast day of Saint Agatha. More information on these adorable pastries can be found in this blog entry and this blog entry. […]
Wow, how true
I found two recipes of the St.Agatha nipple pastries on line…but still have questions, 1) the glaze is not mentioned in the English recipe, and 2) the other recipe is entirely in Italian! I’ve included the English version here.
Minni di Virgini, or St. Agatha’s Breasts
Danielle Oteri
by Danielle Oteri on February 4, 2011
Minni di Virgini
Makes 8 breasts
1 lb pounds ricotta
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
5 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp lemon rind
8 maraschino cherries, sliced in half
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the ricotta until creamy. Mix in the sugar and vanilla, then fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
Preheat the oven to 375˚. Grease and flour an 18-inch square cake pan or two 9-inch square baking pans.
Once more using the paddle attachment, cream the egg yolks and sugar for 2-3 minutes, until thickened and lemon-colored. Add flour a little at a time, making sure each scoop is fully incorporated before adding more. Mix in the vanilla and lemon rind.
In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold into the cake batter. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a knife or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Turn out on a wire rack to cool.
When the cake is completely cool, cut 8 rounds of cake using a juice glass or round cookie cutter. These will become the base of your minni. Top each sponge cake disc with a generous dome of ricotta custard and one of the maraschino cherry halves.
BBP Florida
Bethsabe,
Thanks you posting this recipe by Danielle Oteri. The recipe is more of a home style one, which is probably why it doesn’t include the glaze. The really fancy ones are more like mini casatas in structure and are usually made professionally at a bakery. But this recipe looks very nice. I think I’ll try it out for Christmas and let you know how it comes out.
Erica
[…] the bakery, and here‘s a good discussion about the pastry in the middle, the St Agatha’s breast. The […]
Nice to come across your site. I live in Catania and thought I might share what I wrote a while back about this tasty treat…
http://siciliansimplicity.blogspot.com/search?q=St.+Agatha
Jill,
Thanks so much for directing me to your post and your site. The recipe looks wonderful- lots of work, and the photos of the Agatha nipples still created in Catania puts Brooklyn and Manhattan to shame. You really can’t get anything here that isn’t day-glo green and so repulsively sweet it sends you into a diabetic coma.
Best to you.
Erica
[…] the bakery, and here‘s a good discussion about the pastry in the middle, the St Agatha’s breast. The […]
I,m anxous to hear about st lucy, patt