What can I say about these soft castagnole.. They are fritters really very simple to prepare, you won’t even need to weigh anything except for the flour.
But the most important thing is their goodness! Super soft inside and, thanks to perfect frying if you follow my advice, crunchy and not at all greasy outside.
You’ll shape the castagnole with two tablespoons by dipping the batter directly into the hot oil.
Moreover, to make it even easier for you, below you will also find the COMPLETE VIDEO to make them together with all the important steps explained in detail.
In short, we’re already in Carnival season, so all you have to do is try them, just be careful about one thing.. one leads to another!
Here are my other recipes perfect for the Carnival season:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: Makes about 15 castagnole
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter, Spring
Ingredients for making SOFT CASTAGNOLE
- 2 eggs (medium, at room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons sugar (heaping tablespoons)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use sunflower)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (heaping teaspoon)
- 1.25 cups all-purpose flour
- lemon zest (with edible peel)
- 4 cups peanut oil (for frying)
- as needed sugar (to sprinkle on the surface of the castagnole)
Tools for making SOFT CASTAGNOLE
- Electric whisks
- Thermometer kitchen
- Slotted spoon
- Pot for frying
Steps to prepare SOFT CASTAGNOLE
In a large bowl, break the eggs (make sure they are at room temperature), add the sugar and beat with electric whisks for a few minutes until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
Now add the vegetable oil and milk, mix briefly with the whisks, then grate the organic lemon zest directly into the bowl; I usually use the zest of half a lemon for these quantities, but you can adjust according to your taste.
Add a heaping teaspoon of vanilla baking powder, sifting it, and mix again for a few seconds.
Then proceed to add the flour, also sifted, a little at a time. You will obtain a fairly dense batter (I recommend watching the VIDEO to get a clear idea of the consistency you should achieve)
Proceed to frying: the steps I’ll outline, if followed precisely, will result in perfect frying, not greasy at all, and will allow the castagnole to cook perfectly inside.
Prepare:
– a pot with a maximum diameter of 25 cm and fairly high edges, so the oil you pour in is deep enough.
– two tablespoons
– a container lined with absorbent paper, large enough to hold the freshly fried castagnole without overlapping. Immediately pour the sugar that will coat the surface of your castagnole onto the absorbent paper.
Turn the heat to high and bring it to a temperature of 302°F (150°C). For this, you will need a kitchen thermometer (I’ll leave the link to the one I have HERE) which will cost you just a few euros and is highly useful for many other kitchen preparations, for example, for roasts or simply all other frying.
Once the temperature is reached, reduce the heat to a minimum, so the temperature remains roughly constant during the entire frying, and begin to drop a spoonful of batter into the oil at a time, using the second spoon.
Fry not too many castagnole at once, otherwise the oil temperature will drop too much.
When your soft castagnole are nicely golden, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them directly in the container with the sugar you prepared earlier.
While the castagnole are hot, roll them well to make the sugar adhere to their entire surface.
And here you are, your spoon-soft castagnole are ready! They are really addictive, I warn you 😉 especially for the quality of the frying and their softness inside.
Storage and Tips
These are the basic quantities, with which you can prepare about fifteen castagnole (it will depend on how large you make them).
Obviously, if you need to prepare a larger quantity, simply multiply the quantities I’ve given you. For example, for about thirty castagnole, the eggs will become four, and you will multiply all other ingredients by two.
Soft castagnole keep for a couple of days in a dry place. Like all fried foods, they tend to soften as hours pass; for this reason, I recommend not making too many.
Soft castagnole keep for a couple of days in a dry place. Like all fried foods, they tend to soften as hours pass; for this reason, I recommend not making too many.
If you liked this recipe, you might also be interested in my recipe for CARNIVAL CHIACCHIERE (find the link HERE)
