Nannu's Pastizzi

Bakery: Nannu's Pastizzi 
Address: 6981 Millcreek Dr, Mississauga ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Maltese 
Price: $$-$$$ 

Having already discovered that I do indeed like Maltese baked goods (and very much so ^.^) I was absolutely *thrilled* to spot a fairly new (I don't live in the area, so I must have missed it by a couple of months... or so) Maltese bakery/hot table on the corner of Derry Rd and Millcreek Dr. Yes, get this: Mississauga can now satisfy your pastizzi and Maltese baked goods cravings! I might not have believed it, but I already ate the proof. :P Ooh, I *love* it when we get some new ethnic baking!!*continues squealing*

Nonetheless, as with other Maltese businesses (Italian very often fall under the same thing) the focus is on the savoury items, namely meat- stuffed pastizzi as well as hot, ready-to-eat food. But of course, there are goodies too, from signature Maltese treats to ones that you'll find at your typical Italian bakery (cannoli, sfogliatelle, cookies, etc.) Seeing as you *can't* get spiced date cookies and molasses rings at your typical Italian bakery, this is what I went for. ^^;;

Unlike the others I tried in Toronto, these guys had the date cookies (imqaret) in two formats: fried (smaller) and baked (larger). I've only had the fried variety before and will definitely stick to it. Both are the same or similar dough wrapped around a slightly spiced date mass. The baked version was a little too hard, in my opinion, and it was hard to bite it without the soft date oozing out on all sides like an overstuffed sandwich. It was really difficult to get everything: two layers of dough and the dates all in one take and it just tasted too cookie-like, while the fried one had that something more special about it. Soft (yes, oily) dough with the powdered sugar forming a soft of softened crust on one side and plenty of dates in the middle -- mmmm, this is insanely good!

There were also trizzi, a cookie-like creation with hard dough wrapped around a somewhat chewy almond mass in the middle. This was alright, but not the greatest of the bunch. It was, like the baked imqaret, a little too hard to enjoy in one piece.

Lastly, I got my other favourite treat which I'll just call molasses rings, because I don't feel like searching through my posts and finding the official mouthful of a name. :P This is pretty much that same hard dough wrapped around a sort of chewy spice cake made of molasses and gingerbread spices. I would have liked it a bit more spiced and it got pretty doughy in some spots (i.e. there wasn't that much spice cake filling), but it was very good nonetheless, although I do have to say that the best has to be those fried date goodies. :)

One small minus was the price, especially in comparison to the Toronto bakeries I reviewed, where treats were around $1.50 to $2.00, at the very most. With everything being around $3.00 (one item was $3.50, but I don't know which one, as nothing is labelled), it seems a little bit too much, especially for the date cookies. Besides this, it's a great place to go try something different and yes, there is now a little bit of Malta in Mississauga when I don't feel like making the trip to Dundas & High Park!

Rating: ***1/2