Preparation of carnival streamers

• Making carnival streamers is really easy and quick, plus it’s really fun to make them with our kids.

  In a bowl, place the flour together with the sugar, add the egg and the extra virgin olive oil, and start mixing initially with a fork.  

• Once the egg has been absorbed by the flour, add the soft butter at room temperature and the orange zest, then turn the dough onto the work surface.

• Work the dough vigorously adding milk if you see that you can’t form a compact and smooth ball.

  Add it sparingly, however, otherwise, you risk having a too sticky dough.

• Once you have a dough similar to that for tagliatelle, divide it into as many pieces as the food colorings you want to use.

• At this point, put on disposable gloves and color each ball with a little coloring at a time.

  Work it well to mix it and see if the color satisfies you; otherwise, add more.

• Keep in mind that if you use gel colorings, you’ll definitely need a little more flour for each ball of dough since the gel softens the dough. Add it gradually as needed.  

• Let the colored balls rest covered with a cloth for at least 30 minutes.

  Then roll them out thin with a rolling pin as if making tagliatelle, roll each dough on itself and cut into strips.

• Now take some aluminum cylinders (like those for Sicilian cannoli) and wrap the carnival streamers, pressing the edges well to prevent them from opening during cooking.

• Heat plenty of oil for frying in a deep pot and fry the carnival streamers few at a time.

  Remove them when they are crunchy and have slightly puffed up, using tongs.  

• Let them cool and drain the excess oil on absorbent paper, remove the carnival streamers from the cylinders, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.