Go Back

Italian Carnival fritters

Italian Carnival fritters, aka chiacchiere, bugie, frappe, sfrappole.. and many more names, are a must have during the Carnival time (February). Follow my mom's recipe and you can't go wrong!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Resting time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 50 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: carnival, cheap, children, Fried, pastry, Traditional
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 250kcal
Author: Roberto
Cost: 0.5$

Equipment

  • A bowl, or a stand mixer
  • a rolling pin, or a pasta maker
  • a knife
  • a pan
  • absorbent paper
  • a strainer

Ingredients

  • 350 gr 00 flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 orange
  • 3 tbsp cognac
  • 15 gr butter or lard
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  • q.s. peanut oil to fry
  • q.s. icing sugar for the topping

Instructions

  • Put all the ingredients in a bowl and, using a fork, mix them. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer (like mine).
    Italian Carnival fritters mixing
  • The result should be a quite sticky dough, rather wet, with a wonderful smell (orange and cognac responsible for that). Make it rest for about 1 hour in the bowl, covered with a plastic film.
    Italian Carnival fritters dough
  • Cut the dough into 4-5 smaller pieces and roll out each of them with a rolling pin (or a pasta machine). Use some flour to avoid it to stick to the rolling pin or to the chopping board. The resulting sheet should very thin.
    Italian Carnival fritters rolled out
  • Using a knife, or the traditional tool to cut pasta sheets (also used for tarts), cut them into rectangular shapes, with two cuts each (see the picture).
    Italian Carnival fritters shapes
  • Using vegetable oil (I prefer peanut one), fry 3-4 of them at once. It should take about 30 seconds for each side. Then remove them to a layer of absorbent paper.
    Italian Carnival fritters in the pan
  • When the oil is drained, but the fritters are still warm, spray them with the icing sugar... and enjoy! They are very good both warm and ambient temperature.
    Italian Carnival fritters

Notes

  • when you roll out the dough, since it is quite wet, use a bit of flour to avoid the rolling pin to stick
  • fold the dough a couple of time when you roll it. This (similar to what happens when you make bread) will allow some air to be trapped in the sheet of dough and will eventually create the bubbles while frying
  • the perfect oil temperature is 170 °C. You don't want the fritters to burn
  • cook very few fritters at once for better results
  • spray the fritters with icing sugar when they are still warm, you want the sugar to stick
  • keep them for a few days at ambient temperature. But I don't think they will last ;)