Chiacchiere di Carnevale – Carnival Fried Pastry

Noone can resist to deep fried chiacchiere, a North Italy carnival tradition.  Very easy to make… just follow this definite recipe and … fry real quick!

Carnival fried frites

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (360g)

1/3 cup sugar (40g)

2 eggs

1/2 bag baking soda

lemon rind (organic)

1/3 cup butter (40g)

1/2 cup sweet wine, like marsala, passito or dry moscato

icing sugar

peanut oil (or olive oil) to fry

Directions

In a bowl mix flour, sugar, a bit of salt, melted butter, eggs, wine, baking soda and lemon rind.

Mix well and knead long till you all ingredients are well blended and the dough is soft and smooth.

Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Put oil in a fryng pan and bring to fryng temperature (330F, 170C).

Get a small piece of dough, flatten it with a rolling pin to a very thin foil (very thin!)

Cut into rectangles of 3 x 2 inches. Cut each rectangle in the middle. Fry each rectangle 10 seconds per side. Don’t let them burn.

Put on kitchen paper to dry the oil, spread icing sugar.

Let cool down in a warm, dry room. Good chiacchiere remain fresh and crisp for several days… if they don’t get all eaten before!