Chiacchiere or Italian Carnival frappe

Chiacchiere or Italian carnival frappe . Perhaps one of the most celebrated pagan festivals in the world is Carnival.

Depending on the country where we are, customs vary substantially.

Carnival in Rio de janeiro, Galicia or Venice has nothing to do with it. What we can find as a link of union in all places is, on the one hand in disguise, and on the other the kitchen. In any of these places we can find our own traditional dishes for the occasion.

In Spain the dessert recipes for Carnival, Easter and the Dead are among the best of the year, little by little we are completing our recipes with more dishes. Today it’s up to an Italian recipe.

A carnival candy very similar to the Galician fried ears , the chiacchiere . The literal translation of this Italian word in talk or gossip.  Which strikes me as an original name for a plate of food.

It seems that the name is due to the fact that, just like it does not take many reasons to start a talk or gossip. Not many ingredients for great chiacchiere, either .

If we focus on the Italian carnival, we can complete this recipe with two other sweets that we must not forget,  the fritole or fritters of Carnival  and the castagnole .

Although it is Italy we can find this sweet under many names, bugie in Genoa or Turin, fiocchetti in Montefeltro Rimini, frappe in Rome, or intrigoni in Reggio Emilia.

Everywhere we will be talking about the same dessert, with the only variation of the liquor that is used among its ingredients.

Be it grappa, Marsala wine, brandy or anise. It is a sweet based on the preparation of a dough that we must stretch as finely as possible, cut characteristically and fry in abundant oil.

We finish the chiacchiere process by sprinkling these bites with sugar and from there to the table. I assure you that you will love them, one more option so that your Carnival does not lack the most famous sweets in the world.

Preparation of the dough for the Italian Chiacchiere or frappe

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar with a fork.
2. Add the eggs, the Grappa, the butter at room temperature.
3. We begin to stir the mixture with the fork until it is integrated and is like a sand.
4. We add 3 tablespoons of milk, leaving the last tablespoon in reserve in case we see that it is necessary to bind the dough.
5. We begin to knead for about 10 minutes, until we have a homogeneous ball.
6. We wrap the dough in transparent paper and let it rest for 30 minutes.
7. We flour the work surface and stretch the dough until it is very fine.
8. Italians use the pasta machine for this process, if we have it we can do the same. If not, we will simply have to stretch it as much as possible to make it very fine.

Chiacchiere Court. Frying and final presentation

1. With a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the chiacchiere portions.
2. We make 12 x 6 cm rectangles. If we want we can help us with a rule to get the same pieces.
3. We make two longitudinal cuts in the center of each of the pieces and reserve.
4. We put a frying pan with plenty of extra virgin olive oil and heat over medium-low heat.
5. We add a piece of dough to the pan and when it is browned is when we must start frying. I have used olive oil but for those who do not like the strong flavor it gives you can use sunflower oil.
6. We fry the chiacchiere on both sides until golden.
7. We remove to a plate with absorbent kitchen paper to remove the excess oil. This process is very fast.
8. We must control that the oil does not burn us because to get the chiacchiere to be crisp and slightly hollow we need the exact temperature of the oil.
9. We only have to sprinkle the chiacchiere with icing sugar to taste or as I like with a little icing sugar. Letting it be well impregnated with sugar.
10. We place the chiacchiere on a tray and let cool. We taste freshly made, at room temperature or cold, simply delicious.

We can enjoy this typical carnival candy as a perfect finish to a meal or as a snack accompanied by coffee. In either option we will enjoy it for sure.

You can see in this step by step how to prepare this recipe for the Carnival chiacchiere , I am sure you will prepare them on many occasions.