Castagnole (Italian Carnival Dough Balls)
Little Italian Carnival dough balls, fried until golden and rolled in sugar, crisp outside and soft within.
Ingredients
| 250 g | all-purpose flour | |
| 50 g | granulated sugar | |
| 45 g | butter, softened | |
| 8 g | baking powder | |
| ½ | vanilla bean | |
| ½ | lemon (zest) | |
| 1 | egg | |
| 1 | egg yolk | |
| 20 g | milk | |
| 1 tbsp | 15 ml | rum or anise |
| a pinch | salt | |
| — | oil for frying | |
| — | granulated sugar, for rolling |
Instructions
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, then mix in the sugar, the seeds of the vanilla bean, and the grated zest of half a lemon.
- Cut the softened butter into small pieces and add it along with the egg, the egg yolk, the rum, and a pinch of salt, then mix.
- Stir in the milk and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until you get a soft dough, then wrap it in cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Divide the dough into six parts and roll each into a thick cord. Cut each cord into pieces of about 2 cm, then roll them between your hands to form balls.
- Heat the oil and fry a few balls at a time, watching the temperature closely: it must be hot but not excessively so, or the castagnole will burn on the outside and stay raw inside.
- Drain the castagnole and let them dry on absorbent paper, then roll them in granulated sugar.