Carnival sweets: baked or fried, here are all the recipes region by region!
Carnival sweets, baked or fried, are the real gem of the craziest and most colorful party of the year. Let's face it: in addition to original and eccentric disguises and tricks, which undoubtedly allow us to give free rein to our imagination and creativity, it must be admitted that perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this anniversary is to have a good feast of chiacchiere, frappe, tortelli and other delicious Carnival sweet recipes covered with powdered sugar, cream and colored sugar grains.
Below we offer you some regional variations of the most famous and tasty Carnival sweets to best celebrate the most loved masked party ever. Baked, for those who want to get into the costume again next year, or fried, for those with a sweet tooth, here are all the best Carnival dessert recipes to try!
1. Carnival sweets in the oven: donuts filled with cream, chocolate or jam!
We decided to start with one of the tastiest baked Carnival sweets you can try: donuts. By choosing to make them in their lighter variant, ie baked, you can allow yourself to dare a little more with the filling: cream, chocolate, Nutella or your favorite jam. Choose the filling you prefer and stuff your donut baked with a creamy heart full of taste that will delight you for hearty breakfasts or for a super delicious snack.
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Ingredients (for 5 donuts)
250 grams of flour
20 grams of sugar
3 gr of salt
8 gr of fresh brewer's yeast
50 gr of water
1 egg (60 g)
20 gr of butter
To brush:
1 yolk
50 grams of whole milk
Preparation
Put the flour, sugar, salt and fresh brewer's yeast in the mixer, start it at medium speed and after a couple of minutes, keeping it always on, add 25 grams of water (half the total amount you need), continuing to mix. until the water is completely absorbed.
Let it pass for about 3 minutes and then add the other 25 grams of water, mixing as before. Let pass another 5 minutes, and add the egg, continuing to work the dough for at least 10 minutes until a compact amalgam is obtained.
Then add the butter, a little at a time, continuing to work the dough for about 15 minutes. Form a ball and place it in a bowl, covering it with cling film. Then store it in a dry place for 3 hours and then in the fridge, where it will have to remain for about 10 hours.
Then take your dough and place it on a lightly floured surface, roll it out with a rolling pin and form a rectangle. Then take the shorter sides of the dough and bring them inside, first one and then the other, in order to create a smaller but higher rectangle. Leave on for about 5 minutes, covering it with a cloth, roll out again with a rolling pin and repeat the operation. At this point you will have obtained a higher dough, let it rest for another 5 minutes and then roll it out again until you get a thickness of 2-3 cm.
At this point, take some glasses and make some circles from the dough, then place them on a lightly floured surface and cover them with cling film, leaving them on for about an hour and a half.
Now you will have to brush them: then take egg and milk, mix them and, with a kitchen brush, start brushing your circles. Then put them in the oven at 175 degrees for 20/25 minutes.
At the end, fill the sac-à-poche with the filling you want and then insert it into your cooked donuts.
2. Fried or baked Carnival sweets: here are the Milanese tortelli!
Typical of the Lombard tradition, tortelli are among the most delicious baked or fried Carnival sweets!
You can choose whether to leave them empty, as the original recipe wants, or fill them with cream. If you have chosen not to pay attention to the diet, here is the recipe with some tricks to cook the cream without problems!
Ingredients (for 5 people)
80 grams of flour
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
25 grams of sugar
250 grams of milk
4 gr of baking powder
the zest of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of dark rum
sunflower oil for frying
zemolato sugar to serve
Preparation
In a saucepan, combine milk, sugar and lemon zest and bring to the boil.
Pour in the flour mixed with the yeast in one go and mix until you get a ball that will come off the sides of the pot. Over low heat, continue cooking for a few minutes, until a slight patina tends to form on the bottom of the pan.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing with an electric mixer. Finally add the rum too.
Heat the oil to 160 ° and dip small quantities of dough with the help of two teaspoons: the ideal dose is the equivalent of half a teaspoon of dough, because then it will swell a lot.
Drain the tortelli from the oil and pass them in the granulated sugar.
3. Emilian castagnole: the Carnival fried dessert par excellence
The first evidence of the damselfish recipe was found in an eighteenth-century manuscript volume, where even four variants of the carnival dessert were described. We present you the most classic. Remember that in addition to the fried variant, you can always opt for a lighter, baked version.
Ingredients (for 6 people)
500 grams of flour 00
100 gr of butter at room temperature
100 grams of sugar
25 gr of baking powder
10 gr of salt
5 medium eggs
the zest of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of aniseed liqueur
Seed oil for frying
powdered sugar to serve
Preparation
Mix all the ingredients together, forming a large ball of dough.
Heat a pan with oil: the temperature must not be high, otherwise the damselfish will remain raw inside, while outside they will become very dark.
Take small doses of dough: make some cords and cut small balls of about 2-3 cm.
Dip 4-5 damselfish at a time in the hot oil.
Finally, place them on a tray with kitchen paper and, once warm, sprinkle them with icing sugar.
4. The frappe: the typical dessert of the Lazio Carnival
Also known as chatter, lies or rags, frappe are typical of Lazio, but also of cities such as Perugia and Ancona. They can be baked, fried and coated with powdered sugar or chocolate.
Ingredients (for 6 people)
7 tablespoons of sugar
1 liqueur glass of white wine
1 glass of milk
50 grams of lard
the zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
flour to taste
sunflower oil for frying
powdered sugar or icing to finish
Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then start adding flour until you get a dough with a consistency similar to that of egg pasta. Cover and let it rest for half an hour.
Roll out the dough very thin, bring the oil to 180 ° and fry 2-3 pieces at a time, so as not to drop the temperature of the oil and be able to manage the frying well.
Drain the excess oil and sprinkle with icing sugar, or garnish with icing.
5. Carnival fried donuts: here are the fratini from Tuscany!
Small fragrant donuts typical of the Tuscany region: to fry and try hot!
Ingredients (for 6 people)
3 whole eggs
9 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of oil
1 sachet of baking powder
1 pinch of salt
flour to taste
Seed oil for frying
granulated sugar to finish
Preparation
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add the flour until the dough is soft but workable by hand. The trick? If it's a little sticky it's perfect!
Make a sausage from which to obtain some morsels of dough: from each morsel obtain a roll just smaller than a finger and about 12 cm long.
Close the donut-shaped sausage and set aside.
Fry the fratini, drain them on absorbent paper and pass them in the granulated sugar.
The classic recipe involves the use of brewer's yeast: if you want to follow it, after having formed and strung the dough, leave it to rest away from currents and covered like any leavened product for a couple of hours, and then continue forming the fratini. as per recipe.
6. The Venetian pancakes: the fritoe!
The Carnival of Venice is famous all over the world for its sumptuous costumes ... and its greedy pancakes! Known as fritoe, they are delicious sweets embellished with pine nuts and raisins.
Ingrediants
2 whole eggs
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of fruity extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons of grappa
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
the zest of half a lemon
240 grams of flour
90 gr of raisins
a handful of pine nuts
sunflower oil for frying
powdered sugar to finish
Preparation
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the liquid ingredients at once and mix with a fork. The dough must be soft.
Heat the oil to 160 ° and, with the help of two teaspoons, dip the balls created with the dough into it: each ball corresponds to about half a teaspoon of dough, taking into account that they are the size of a walnut and that they will grow with the yeast in cooking.
Drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with icing sugar.
7. The pignoccata: the sweet of the Sicilian Carnival!
The last recipe we propose is one of the sweetest: small balls of dough covered with honey!
Ingredients (for 6 people)
for the dough
2 eggs
200 grams of flour 00
40 grams of sugar
1 tablespoon of oil or lard
the zest of half an orange
finally
100 gr of honey
40 grams of sugar
20 gr of water
colored sprinkles
fry oil
Preparation
Prepare the dough by combining eggs, flour, sugar, orange zest and oil.
Make strings of dough about the size of a finger and, from these, cut into small pieces the size of a hazelnut.
Fry until golden brown and drain on absorbent paper.
In a separate saucepan, put the water, honey and sugar and heat slightly, just enough to thin the honey and dissolve the sugar.
Add the fried dumplings, now lukewarm, and mix until they are completely covered.
Place on a serving dish forming a sort of pyramid on which the colored sprinkles, chopped almonds or candied orange peel will be sprinkled at the end
