The cartellate are a traditional Apulian dessert prepared during the Christmas holidays. It’s a true work of art!
The preparation requires only a few simple ingredients and lots of manual skill. I assure you the result is spectacular!
Follow the recipe and make them with me!
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Cost: Economical
- Portions: 30
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients to Prepare About 30 Cartellate
- 4 cups All-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup Dry white wine (About 1 and 1/2 glasses)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (for frying)
- 34 oz extra virgin olive oil
- vincotto
- honey
- powdered sugar
- 70% dark chocolate
- walnuts
- sprinkles
Tools
- Fluted pastry wheel fluted pastry wheel
- Pasta machine
Preparing the Cartellate
Arrange the flour in a fountain shape and pour a glass of dry white wine. Bring the flour closer, trying to absorb the wine, then add the olive oil. Knead and gradually add the remaining part of the wine. Work the dough until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture.
At this point, roll the dough very thin. You can do this by working multiple parts separately with the rolling pin as when making fresh pasta (see the procedure with photos present in the cavatelli recipe HERE ) or pass them through the pasta machine like when making lasagna).
Gradually, cut with the wheel strips about 3/4 inch wide. I recommend not cutting them all at once, otherwise, the dough dries out, and you’ll have difficulty in sticking it together.
Fold the strip in half and pinch the dough at regular intervals. Roll it onto itself, joining the wider parts (where you haven’t joined the dough) until you finish the entire strip.
The parts where you pinched the strip will form with the internal part other wide areas as shown in the photo.
This is the final result.
Alternatively, you can pinch the strip in this way. Hold the end of the strip with your right hand, place a finger inside it, and apply slight pressure to the left of the finger. Then hold with your right hand the part you just closed and continue to the end of the strip. In this way, the wide parts will have the same size.
Proceed as before by rolling the strip and pinching the wider parts that touch.
Once all the cartellate are finished, let them rest for a few minutes on the wooden cutting board. They dry better and faster. You should be able to prepare about 30 medium-large cartellate.
In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a pan, and when it’s hot, fry the cartellate. It will take very little, so be careful not to leave them too long! Then place them on absorbent paper and let them dry. Alternatively, you can place them upside down on a wire rack. This way, they will release all the excess oil.
You can season them with vincotto. Heat it for a few minutes and soak the cartellate on both sides.
When you have soaked them all, pour the remaining vincotto on the surface to fill the holes present.
You can simply dust them with powdered sugar or garnish them with honey, sprinkles, chocolate, etc.
Try them also with chestnut honey and walnuts. Pour the honey into a small pot and heat it for a few minutes. Pass the cartellate in the honey and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Cartellate with vincotto…
Cartellate with honey and cartellate with powdered sugar.
Crispy and crunchy!
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I’ll be waiting for you…Gery
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