If you love Carnival sweets and especially fritters, with this preparation you will be in for a treat!
The recipe to make these very soft CASTAGNOLE is easy and doesn’t take much time since the dough does not need to rise and can be fried immediately.
Once cooked you can choose how to fill them: with custard or chocolate pastry cream, with ricotta and chocolate chips and even with Nutella or pistachio cream!
Follow the recipe and the various steps and you’ll see that in a little over thirty minutes you’ll bring to the table these delicious Carnival fritters with a super indulgent filling.
I chose to make them with classic custard and chocolate pastry cream but for a quicker preparation without spending too much time at the stove I suggest opting for hazelnut or pistachio spread or even jam.
Let’s get to work! If you’re looking for other Carnival sweets also check out
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Cooking time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: about 20 fritters
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
- Energy 886.01 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 45.85 (g) of which sugars 29.89 (g)
- Proteins 5.29 (g)
- Fat 77.33 (g) of which saturated 15.79 (g)of which unsaturated 57.88 (g)
- Fibers 0.50 (g)
- Sodium 91.89 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups All-purpose flour (type 00)
- 1 Egg (large, about 2.5 oz (70 g))
- 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp Butter (softened)
- 1 Lemon zest (grated peel)
- 2 tsp Anise liqueur
- 1 pod Vanilla bean (the seeds or 1 packet vanillin)
- 1 tbsp Strega liqueur (or anise liqueur)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/2 packet Baking powder (6 g (~1 1/2 tsp))
- 3/4 cup Granulated sugar (for rolling the castagnole)
- 3 cups Peanut oil (for frying)
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 3 pcs Egg yolks (medium size)
- 6 tbsp Granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp All-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tbsp Potato starch
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
Tools
- Bowl
- 2 Saucepans
- Whisk
- Piping bag
PROCEDURE
Below you will find the instructions to prepare the classic custard as well as, of course, the dough for the Fritters (Castagnole). For the Chocolate Pastry Cream recipe I refer you to THIS LINK.
To prepare the filled castagnole, start with the custard which will need to cool. Put the egg yolks in a bowl together with the sugar and vanilla and beat them with electric whisks for about 2 minutes until you get a fluffy, pale and frothy mixture. Add the sifted flour and starch and continue mixing with the mixer: the mixture must be smooth and homogeneous. Put a small saucepan with the milk on the heat and bring it just to a simmer. As soon as you see the first bubbles, remove it from the heat and quickly pour the egg, sugar and flour mixture into it. Stir quickly then return to the heat over medium-low flame until it reaches the right consistency, always stirring (it will take a few minutes). The custard is ready.
After the resting time, pick up the dough and divide it into many pieces weighing about 10-15 g each, then roll each piece between the palms to form a ball: it is normal if the mixture appears slightly oily. Put the oil in a small high-sided saucepan and heat it over moderate heat for 2 minutes (it should reach about 347°F). To check if it is hot, take a small piece of dough and immerse it: if it rises to the surface almost immediately the oil is ready. Fry a few castagnole at a time turning them often with a skimmer; it will take less than 2 minutes. Drain them on a plate lined with absorbent paper and repeat the operation.
As soon as the fritters have slightly cooled, roll them in granulated sugar. At this point you are ready to fill your Castagnole. Take the Custard (or the filling you have chosen) and transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a very small round tip. To fill the fritters, simply insert the tip without applying too much pressure and squeeze the piping bag leaving a little cream outside so that you can see how they are filled! Now the soft filled fritters with a creamy heart are ready!
STORAGE
FILLED Carnival FRITTERS, like all fried foods, are best eaten just after preparation; otherwise they lose their crispiness.
NOTES AND VARIATIONS
EGG: The weight of the egg, important for this recipe, should be 70 g so you can use either one large egg or 1 small egg + another half small one to reach the required weight. Never underestimate egg weight in pastry as it can change the final result.
ANISE LIQUEUR: The original Castagnole recipe calls for anise liqueur but not being particularly fond of that flavor I replaced it with Strega liqueur. Feel free to choose the liqueur you prefer.
CUSTARD: For an even more indulgent custard you can replace part of the milk with cream; in that case the amounts will be 200 ml milk + 50 ml heavy cream.
VANILLA EXTRACT: To flavor the custard, if you don’t have vanilla extract you can replace it with the seeds of 1 vanilla bean or a packet of vanillin or simply add the grated zest of lemon or orange.
POTATO STARCH: In the custard, instead of potato starch you can use cornstarch (maizena).
HOW TO FILL FILLED CASTAGNOLE: Besides custard you can fill the fritters with hazelnut cream (to speed up the recipe), with jam or marmalade or with a ricotta cream prepared with well-drained ricotta mixed with granulated sugar and orange zest.
BAKING CASTAGNOLE
If you want to avoid frying and prefer to bake the Castagnole, you only need to slightly modify the dough: use 1/2 cup granulated sugar instead of 1/4 cup so you don’t risk ending up with fritters that are too dry. Once you have formed the balls, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a static oven at about 356°F for about 12 – 15 minutes maximum. Remove from the oven and immediately dust with granulated sugar. Then proceed to fill following the “how to fill the castagnole” step indicated above in the recipe.
