Food

Frappe or more precisely the famous Chiacchiere

Frappe-al-vino
Written by EFW Staff

Frappe or Carnival Chiacchiere

The tasty Frappe are typical desserts of the Carnival period in Lazio, Umbria and Marche, characterized by small stripes of crispy dough fried in oil and covered with powdered sugar. They are well appreciated for their friability and lightness and they can be called with different names in the various part of Italy: Carnival “Chiacchiere”, “bugie”, “cenci” or “cioffe”. The housewives carefully prepare these typical desserts in respect of the tradition in the period before the first Sunday of Lent.
Frappe, actually, were born in an ancient time, when the romans used to celebrate the so-called “Saturnali” in honour of Gods. The forefathers of our Carnival Chiacchiere were called “Frictilia”.
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“Frictilia” the forefathers of our Frappe

Frictilia were stripes of dough sautéed in the pig fat that the priestess used to prepare and sell in the corner of the streets near the temples, in order to supply the worshippers in abundance for the fest days. In the medieval period, when the pagan religious was melted to the Christianity, “saturnalia” acquired the modern philosophy of our present Carnival, preserving the traditions among the people.

Traditional recipe of the typical Carnival desserts: “Frappe or Chiacchiere”

When Carnival arrives, neither cholesterol nor cellulite can win in front of a dish full of Frappe with powdered sugar! Thus it is worth saying the traditional recipe of these typical Carnival desserts, beloved by children and adults.

Ingredients:

– 500 gr of flour
– 30 gr of butter
– 1 egg + 2 yolks
– 80 gr of sugar
– Red wine to knead
– Peanut butter and oil
– Powdered sugar

Preparation

1) Sprinkle the flour on a surface and make a hole in the middle. Mix the blended eggs, sugar, the softened butter and knead everything pouring out slowly the red wine until you reach a dough of a medium consistency, not too though not too soft. If it is too soft, add more wine of flour to reach the right consistency. Knead until you obtain a homogeneous dough. Make a ball, place in a bowl and allow to rest for half an hour.

2) Through the specific tool, roll the dough out starting with the larger thickness to the thinner thickness, to obtain a thin dough. Cut some rectangles (3x6cm) with a pastry wheel and make a small cut in the middle of each rectangle.

3) In a wide pan, melt the butter in the oil and wait until it boils paying attention to not burn the oil
(n.b. the oil level has to reach half the pan. Little oil will burn Frappe).
Place the Chiacchiere in the hot oil paying attention to have the sufficient room to turn them. Once cooked (floated, gold and not black) cool them down in a ceramic bowl covered with paper towel.

4) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve, paired with a Passito wine, citrusy and balsamic to enhance its flavour.

 

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EFW Staff