Almond pastries are typical Sardinian sweets whose preparation is particularly elaborate. They look like little baskets of various shapes, with the surface covered with a layer of royal icing. The molds are covered with a very thin puff pastry, filled with a soft almond sponge cake. Royal pastries boast an ancient tradition as a sweet for holidays and important occasions such as weddings, baptisms, communions, confirmations and Christmas and Easter holidays. The decorations are adapted to the occasion and can also be very elaborate with embroidery, writing, drawings, or the icing can be more simply covered with devils of various colors, silver and/or gold. Ingredients Puff pastry: 300/400 g of durum wheat flour; Pork lard 1-2 tablespoons (enough to soften the dough) Water (enough to knead); a pinch of salt Filling ingredients: 400 g ground almonds 400 g sugar; 10 whole eggs; the grated rind of a lemon; 1 sachet of baking powder; Royal icing ingredients: 300 g icing sugar 3 egg whites 1 tablespoon lemon juice, vary the amount of icing sugar until you get a thick, non-transparent icing. To prepare the pastry: arrange the durum wheat flour in a fountain shape, add warm water and work until you get a hard dough, then gradually add the lard to soften the dough; roll out the resulting pastry into a very thin sheet and divide into portions. Line the molds with the portions of pastry so that they adhere perfectly to the inside of the molds. It is very important to brush the molds very well with lard to make it easier to remove the pastry from the mold, then press on the edges of the molds to cut and eliminate the excess pastry. Preparation of the filling: Soak the almonds in hot water and blanch them for a few minutes to make it easier to remove the peel, shell them quickly before they cool. After removing the peel from the almonds, grind them finely. In a container, shell the eggs, add the sugar and beat the mixture for at least 15 minutes, incorporate the grated lemon zest, the almonds and finally the yeast, being careful not to form lumps, if necessary use a sieve. Pour in the filling, filling the basket no more than ¾ full. The basket should not be overfilled because if there is too much filling, it risks overflowing, making it practically impossible to detach the pasta from the mold later. The baskets are cooked in a preheated oven at 150° until the surface is golden brown. Once cooked, let the pasta cool slightly and then delicately detach the basket from the mold. After a few hours, when the pastries are now cold, you can decorate them with the royal icing. To make the icing dry faster, the pastries can be put back in the oven at 50° until the icing is perfectly dry.