Melitinia Santorinis (Μελιτίνια Σαντορίνης)

Melitinia Santorinis are Santorini's Easter cheese sweets: small open tartlets filled with fresh mizithra, honey and mastic, their rims pinched into little flower points. They are not closed cheese pies, and they are not a cheesecake pretending to be one. The region is the dish's surname.

The whole thing depends on the filling standing high. Drain the cheese well, bind it with a little fine semolina, and pinch the dough up around it so the pastry becomes a cup, not a lid. If the cheese is wet, it leaks. If the rim is lazy, it opens. Do these two plain things and the melitinia come out proud and fragrant.

They belong to the Easter table after the long fast, when fresh spring milk returns with eggs and honey. I like them small enough for two bites, with the mastic present but not shouting. Good cheese, a steady hand, and patience. That is how a sweet survives.