Carnival sweet fritters

Chiacchiere di carnevale

Chiacchiere are sweet fritters made in Italy for Carnival time. They are known with different names in our regions: Chiacchiere in Lombardy, Cenci in Tuscany, Frappe in Emilia, Bugie in Genoa, Crostoli in Trentino.

Here you can read the directions to make my own recipe for chiacchiere, tested by two generations:

200 grams of soft wheat flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
20 grams of extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
50 grams of sugar
1 shot of white wine
500 milliliters of peanut oil
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar
1 dash of table salt

Prepare chiacchiere dough. Put flour, sugar and salt in a bowl or on a work surface. Stir to blend. Make a well in the center and add eggs, olive oil and wine. With a fork or your fingertips, gradually, incorporate flour until a soft dough. Sometimes, you’ll have to add some flour if your dough is very sticky. Knead your dough on a floured work surface until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover with a napkin and allow to rest, at least 1h.

Give shape to chiacchiere. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface, beginning from the center, to a thickness of 0.3cm (1/8in). You have to use a long pasta rolling pin for this. Using a chef’s knife or a pasta wheel, cut your dough into long strips, 3 to 4cm (1.5in) wide and then cut every strip into 10cm (4in) rectangles. Make some cuts in every rectangle. At any rate, feel free to give the shape you prefer.

Fry chiacchiere. Heat abundant peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil in a deep pan. Add your dough rectangles few at a time. Scoop them out when they are nice and crisp and drain off the oil in excess putting them on kitchen paper. Dust with icing sugar.

Serve chiacchiere warm or cold and pair Malvasia di Castelnuovo Don Bosco (dessert wine from Piedmont).

Source: expo2015.org

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