Authentic Chiacchiere Recipe Italy, Europe

Crunchy, brittle and full of flavor — this, in a nutshell, is chiacchiere, an Italian deep-fried pastry most commonly prepared during carnival and other festive occasions, such as Christmas, New Year and Easter. Made with the simplest ingredients possible — flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and butter — these golden bites still manage to be packed with scents and flavors. Mostly, this can be linked to the fact that the dough is enhanced with lemon or orange zest and liqueur such as the Italian grappa brandy, white wine, rum or Marsala wine. The preparation starts by mixing flour, eggs, egg yolks, butter, salt, sugar, lemon or orange zest, and liqueur, and kneading them into a firm dough. The dough is left to rest shortly, and then it is rolled into thin sheets and cut using a fluted pastry wheel which makes distinctive zigzag edges. Sheets of dough can be cut into rectangles or rhombi, often with an additional incision or two in the middle, or into long strips which ... Read more