AIR FRYER CHIACCHIERE
Certainly one of the most widespread and beloved Carnival desserts by children are CHIACCHIERE, found throughout Italy, where they take on different names like bugie, frappe, or other names still.
The classic version is fried in a pan, but the AIR FRYER CHIACCHIERE version is very simple, but above all lighter.
Today we’ll see together how to prepare Chiacchiere in the Air Fryer starting from a simple and quick dough to obtain delicious and crunchy carnival desserts just like the original fried ones.
For a perfect result, just mix sugar and egg in a bowl, then add the remaining ingredients: milk, oil, instant baking powder (preferably for Air Fryer), flavor with orange (lemon) zest or their extract. Once mixed, you only need to add flour little by little and as soon as the dough becomes more solid, move to a work surface.
The mixture does not require leavening so you can immediately roll it out with a rolling pin and cut it (for example with a pizza wheel) into many strips to shape the chiacchiere that will be ready to be cooked in your air fryer.
At this point, in just 7 minutes, you can serve super tasty and crunchy Chiacchiere, but light, because cooked in the air fryer and you will be ready to decorate them as you wish: just powdered sugar, melted chocolate, or even eat them as they are.
And now let’s get to work and together prepare crispy and delicious but lighter air-fried chiacchiere! And if you’re looking for more Carnival desserts, also see:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: about 30
- Cooking methods: Air frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
- Energy 178.84 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 28.73 (g) of which sugars 4.08 (g)
- Proteins 5.13 (g)
- Fat 5.50 (g) of which saturated 1.22 (g)of which unsaturated 3.91 (g)
- Fibers 0.89 (g)
- Sodium 12.25 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 40 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
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 100 ml milk
- 1 egg (whole)
- 1.5 tbsps vegetable oil
- 2.5 tsps instant baking powder for savory preparations (for air fryer)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 lemon zest (or orange)
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
- chocolate (melted for glazing)
- Few sprays vegetable oil (spray for air fryer)
Tools
- Air fryer
- Parchment paper
- Bowl
- Pastry wheel
Steps
Crack the egg and place it in a bowl with the sugar. Then add the milk, oil, instant baking powder for desserts (preferably for air fryer), and lemon (or orange) essence and mix everything with a fork. Finally, add the flour little by little, always continuing to mix. As soon as the dough becomes consistent, move to a lightly floured surface and start kneading by hand until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, preferably on a parchment paper sheet, then with a pastry wheel or a pizza cutter, cut the chiacchiere by dividing the dough into many strips 0.6 to 1 inch wide. With these doses, you will get 40 thin chiacchiere or 30 thicker ones.
With these doses, you’ll need to cook the chiacchiere in two batches, so divide them in half and start. Place parchment paper at the bottom of the air fryer basket, spray with some oil, and cook at 383°F for 5 minutes. Open the basket, turn them over, and spray a little more oil, cook for another 2 minutes still at 383 degrees. Remove them from the basket, place them on a tray to cool, and cook the other half of the dough in the same way.
You can choose to serve the chiacchiere cooked in the air fryer simply by dusting them with powdered sugar or decorating them with melted chocolate.
STORAGE
Chiacchiere prepared in the air fryer can be stored in a tightly closed container, beautifully crunchy for up to 4 days. If you don’t eat them right away, I recommend decorating them only at the time of serving.
TIPS AND VARIANTS
EGGLESS CHIACCHIERE: If due to intolerance issues you cannot eat this ingredient, replace the egg with ½ jar of plain natural yogurt.
GLUTEN-FREE CHIACCHIERE: To make gluten-free chiacchiere, replace all-purpose flour with 80 g of potato starch (or corn starch) + 170 g of rice flour.
LACTOSE-FREE CHIACCHIERE: To make lactose-free chiacchiere, replace milk with a plant-based beverage of your choice (almond milk, soy, rice) in equal quantities.
COOKING: Of course, chiacchiere, besides being air fried, can also be cooked the traditional way, meaning fried in oil in a pan, or for a lighter version, even baked.
HOW TO MAKE CHIACCHIERE DOUGH WITH BIMBY
To prepare the chiacchiere dough with the Bimby, you will need 500 g of all-purpose flour, 140 g of powdered sugar, 3 whole eggs + 1 egg white, 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1 lemon zest, 1 sachet of vanillin, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon of Strega liqueur (optional).
CHIACCHIERE DOUGH PROCEDURE FOR BIMBY. Beat the egg white to stiff peaks: 98.6°F for 2-3 min. at speed 3 and set aside. Clean the Bimby bowl and put the grated lemon zest into the bowl, blend for 5 sec. at speed 7. Add the flour, powdered sugar, whole eggs, a pinch of salt, vanillin, oil, and the liqueur (if you decided to use it) and work everything for 2 min. at speed 4-5. Finally, add the beaten egg white and work again for 2 min. at Knead speed. Transfer the dough to a work surface and proceed to create the Chiacchiere as in the classic recipe described above.
