Jamaican Dessert

Gizzada

Gizzada is small Jamaican open coconut tarts with a pinched pastry shell and sticky ginger-spiced brown-sugar filling. This version uses measured ingredients, clear visual cues and the traditional flavour balance that makes the dish distinctive.

Jump to recipe More Jamaican food
40 minsPrep time
28 minsCook time
Serves 12Servings
MediumDifficulty
Gizzada
About this dish

Gizzada: the story on the plate

Gizzada is a Jamaican dessert with a clear sense of place. Gizzada, sometimes called pinch-me-round, is a classic Jamaican coconut tart immediately recognisable by its hand-pinched pastry edge. The recipe below keeps the defining ingredients and technique intact while giving practical metric quantities and enough detail for a home cook to judge texture, seasoning and doneness rather than simply follow a timer.

Historical background

Gizzada, sometimes called pinch-me-round, is a classic Jamaican coconut tart immediately recognisable by its hand-pinched pastry edge.

Why it is famous

It is a bakery and snack-counter sweet where the decorative shell is as important to identity as the spiced coconut centre.

Cultural significance

It is a bakery and snack-counter sweet where the decorative shell is as important to identity as the spiced coconut centre.

Nutrition

Estimated nutrition per serving

These figures are estimates per serving. Actual nutrition can vary with the brands and exact amounts you use, how much oil, dressing or sauce is absorbed, any substitutions or added extras, and the portion size served.

A practical guide for comparing recipes and planning meals.

290Calories
4gProtein
35gCarbs
15gFat
Ingredients

What you need

  • 300 plain flour
  • 150 cold butter, cubed
  • 0.5 fine salt
  • 90 ice water, approximately
  • 300 fresh grated coconut
  • 180 dark brown sugar
  • 100 water
  • 1 ground ginger
  • 0.5 ground nutmeg
  • 1 vanilla
  • fine salt
Method

Step-by-step method

Follow the recipe in order, tasting and adjusting seasoning where needed.

  1. Rub butter into flour and salt until coarse crumbs form, add just enough ice water to bind and chill the pastry 30 minutes.
  2. Simmer coconut, brown sugar, water, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and a pinch of salt for 8–10 minutes until sticky and most free liquid has evaporated. Cool completely.
  3. Roll pastry 3 mm thick and cut twelve 10 cm rounds. Press into small tart tins or shape free-standing cups, pinching the rim into the traditional pointed scallops.
  4. Blind-bake the empty shells at 190°C for 8 minutes so the base starts setting before the moist filling is added.
  5. Spoon coconut filling into each shell without packing it above the rim. Bake another 15–18 minutes until pastry is golden and coconut has dark caramelised tips.
  6. Cool before removing from tins. The filling is very hot and sticky straight from the oven and firms to a chewy texture as it cools.
Cook smarter

Tips, storage and serving advice

Shopping tips

Use whole allspice when you can, fresh thyme, real Scotch bonnet and good coconut milk. For ackee, use reputable canned ackee unless you are experienced with properly ripened fresh fruit. Check labels on compound ingredients such as sauces, spice blends, stocks, kimchi, fermented pastes and prepared breads when cooking for allergies.

Ingredient quality

For Gizzada, prioritise fresh or properly stored versions of plain flour, cold butter, fine salt, ice water; speciality seasonings should smell vivid rather than stale.

Common mistakes

Warm filling melts pastry fat, overfilling causes boil-over and shallow pinches disappear during baking.

Chef’s tips

Make exaggerated pinches in the pastry rim; they soften and spread slightly in the oven.

How to know it is cooked

Pastry is golden underneath and coconut is caramelised at the tips but remains chewy at the centre.

Plating advice

Serve whole so the pinched shell is visible; cut one only for photography.

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