Angel wings – Chiacchiere – carnival biscuits

Chiacchiere finished dish

Like in most catholic countries, the start of lent is a big occasion in Italy. Carnival (carnivale) runs from “fat Thursday , giovedi grasso” until “fat Tuesday, martedi grasso”. Traditionally people dress up in masks and costumes, but outside of Venice, this is mostly only done by small children. However everybody uses it as an excuse to eat lots of sweet things. This is Italy after all 🙂 This recipe is for one of the most common biscuits. They have many regional names,  bugie,  cenci,  crostoli,  frappe,  galani,  sfrappole ,but here they are known as chiacchiere. A rough translation would be “chatty biscuits”. There are many variations on the basic recipe, some include  grappa or wine, or lemon zest, but this is one of the simplest.

Chiacchere ingredients

• 280g plain flour
• 70g potato starch (if you can’t find this, use all plain flour)
• 20g unsalted butter
• 20g icing sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• A few drops of vanilla essence or a sachet of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Oil for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough.

Chiacchere mixing dough

Knead it for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth.

Chiacchere dough

Roll it out very thinly. If the dough is too sticky, dust with a little flour. You are aiming for about the thickness of lasagne. In fact, if you have a pasta rolling machine, that would be perfect.

Chiacchere ready to fry

Cut out rectangles of about 6×3 cm (2×1 inch) and make a slit in the middle. A pastry wheel is good for this.

Chiacchere frying

Deep fry in hot oil (about 190°c 375°f) until they are puffed up and lightly golden.

Drain on kitchen paper and dust with icing sugar.