Sfogliatelle

Sfogliatelle are a shell-shaped pastry of paper-thin, crackling layers around a filling of sweetened semolina and ricotta scented with candied citrus. It's Naples' pastry, and the name literally means "many small leaves" — a description of the dozens of thin, distinct layers that make up the shell, not a figure of speech.

What it actually is

A stiff dough stretches and rolls out into a sheet thin enough to see through, then rolls up tightly into a long log and rests before being sliced into rounds and shaped by hand into a cone. Each cone opens out into ridged, fan-like layers — the "leaves" the name describes — before being filled with a paste of cooked semolina, ricotta, egg, sugar and candied citrus or lemon zest, then baked until the layers crackle apart into a deeply crisp, almost brittle shell.

The shell has to shatter into distinct layers when bitten, not just be flaky. A version where the layers fuse into a single soft crust has lost the specific texture the pastry is named for and built entirely around.

How it's served

• Warm, straight from the oven, dusted with icing sugar.
• As a breakfast or morning pastry, common in Neapolitan cafés.
• Whole, by hand, since cutting it tends to crush the fragile shell.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag gluten, egg and dairy; the shell and filling carry all three.
• Say that it's best eaten warm and fresh, since the shell softens noticeably once it cools.
• Note the shattering, layered shell as the dish's defining texture, since it's easy to undersell on a menu description.
• Mention if a round, filled version without the layered shell is also offered, since some bakeries sell a simpler shortcut version under the same name.