Chiacchiere of Carnival, or crostoli, cenci, bugie …

Recipe taken from caramellosalato.com by Moira Picco

The chiacchiere of carnival, or crostoli if you are in Friuli, or frappe, Galani, cenci, depending on the region of Italy in which you are, are the most typical carnival sweet of Italy.

Chiacchiere of carnival are crispy puff pastry, with a rectangular shape with one or two cuts in the center, worked out  with a rolling pin or the pasta machine, fried in oil and sprinkled with powdered sugar. So you get a crispy waffles, friable and light that will dissolve in the mouth. Someone make them finer, someone make them thicker, I prefer them very thin, in fact, I use to work them very thin with the pasta machine. To realize chiacchiere of carnival you need a few simple ingredients that usually everyone has in the pantry, such as flour, eggs, butter, sugar.

Ingredients:

280 gr. flour
15 gr. wheat starch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
30 gr. sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 vial of lemon flavor or lemon juice
1 pinch of salt
25 gr. butter
Seed oil for frying

Preparation time:

20 minutes

Cooking time:

2-3 minutes

Proceedings:

Pour on a pastry flour, wheat starch and baking powder sifted and make a hole in the center

At the center pour the sugar, vanilla, eggs, the aroma of lemon and a pinch of salt. With a fork, beat the eggs and start taking a bit ‘of flour from the sides of the fountain

When you’ve got a thick paste can pour the softened butter cutted into small pieces

Knead gently all the ingredients until you have a homogenous and compact compound. If the mixture is too hard you can soften by adding a little ‘of water or wanting the same amount of brandy. Now cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes at ambient temperature

Take back the dough and divide it into 3 parts

Pass each piece of the dough into the machine starting from the biggest hole and passing it several times until it is smooth. When the dough is smooth can be made to pass in the average thickness and then in the thinnest. Put the strips on a lightly floured work surface and cut with a serrated wheel in rectangles, making two center cuts

Heat the seed oil, preferably peanut seeds, up to 180 degrees and dip the crostoli, and crostoli, turning, just a 2 minutes. Be careful that the oil temperature does not increase too much, if you lower the gas and wait for dips a bit ‘

Arrange your crostoli on a serving plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar on each layer.

images by caramellosalato.com