Grandma’s chiacchiere with marsala and honey are the classic simple chiacchiere made without eggs and without yeast with a pinch of cocoa and then scented with orange or lemon.
With this dough, you can make them thin and bubbly like balloons or thicker for those who love them more substantial.
The dough is made with semolina flour which with its granularity gives more crunchiness to the chiacchiere and a pinch of cocoa for a nice golden appearance.
I preferred to make the thin version, scenting them with orange zest, just like my grandma used to make!
I only slightly changed the recipe by replacing lard with butter, but believe me, they are really good and irresistible that one leads to another, after all, grandma’s recipes are always infallible!
Now let’s see how to prepare them together, follow me in the recipe!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
Ingredients for Grandma’s Chiacchiere with Marsala and Honey
- 2 cups semolina flour
- 1/3 cup marsala
- 2 tbsps brown sugar
- 1 tsp orange honey
- 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsps lard (or butter)
- 1 orange zest (grated)
- as needed peanut oil (for frying)
- as needed powdered sugar
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Dough Roller
- 1 Pastry Cutter
- 1 Pan
- 1 Stove
Steps for Grandma’s Chiacchiere with Marsala and Honey
Mix the semolina flour with cocoa then add the marsala, sugar, and the rest of the ingredients, knead everything well, it should be a fairly stiff dough, if it is too dry and crumbly add a little more marsala or milk, if too moist instead add a dusting of flour.
This depends on the humidity, sometimes it absorbs less, sometimes more!
Work and combine the ingredients well until you form a compact and elastic dough.
Wrap it with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 1/2 hour in a cool place.
After resting, roll out the dough with a dough roller or rolling pin, I used the roller, passing the dough three times at first thick, then medium, and finally at minimum thickness to obtain a nice thin sheet.
With a pastry cutter, cut many rectangles and place them on a tray, if you want, make a central incision, without an incision they will puff up entirely during cooking.
Take a pan or a high skillet, pour and bring the temperature of the peanut oil to 338-356°F.
Immerse and fry the chiacchiere a few at a time, for very few minutes, turning them on both sides, as soon as they puff up and become golden and bubbly, take them with a slotted spoon, drain and place on absorbent paper.
Continue like this until all the rectangles are used up, if the oil becomes too dirty, filter it or change it halfway through cooking.
When the chiacchiere are ready and cooled, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and serve.
Tips and Variations
For this recipe, you can use wine, sparkling wine, or another liquor if you don’t have marsala.
Also, you can shape them according to your tastes, you can serve them simply with powdered sugar or garnished with dark chocolate!
Chiacchiere can be stored for one day under a cloche to prevent them from absorbing moisture and losing their crispness, sprinkle with sugar before serving.
