Homemade crescentine are an easy and tasty recipe. Ideal as an appetizer and perfect for a buffet or a dinner with friends, you’ll see they’ll win everyone over!

As the saying goes, “every world is a village” and every village has its own name!

They are squares of leavened and fried dough, ideal for serving with cold cuts and cheeses.

Compared to the classic recipe, I prepare them without lard, so these crescentine are particularly light and fragrant.

Ideal as a snack or for a savory treat. They are also perfect to enrich a buffet or refreshments… one leads to another!

This is one of the most popular recipes among my friends and when I organize a party, they always ask me to prepare them. I barely have time to bring them to the table before they’re gone!

It’s traditionally served still warm with freshly sliced mortadella, salami, and prosciutto, even better if cut in half and stuffed. Excellent with stracchino or gorgonzola, yum yum, how delicious.

Each diamond shape, which is precisely called crescentina, is then fried in plenty of seed oil, olive oil, or as tradition dictates, in lard.

It cannot be missing from the table on the best occasions, and with its exquisite taste, it even wins over the palate of those trying it for the first time.

To savor them in all their splendor, it’s best to consume them while they’re still hot.

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Cheap
Rest time: 3 Hours
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 6 people
Cooking methods: Frying
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients for the Crescentine

4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk (warm 70 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (2/3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup water (warm 70 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fresh yeast (in winter even 4 grams)
3 1/3 cups peanut oil
7 oz stracchino cheese (or gorgonzola etc.)
as desired salami (raw, cooked, capocollo, pancetta, mortadella. A mix to your taste)

Tools

Worktop
Bowl
Cling film
Rolling pin
Paper towel
Frying pan
Slotted spoon
Pastry wheel

Steps for the Crescentine

Mix the flour, fresh yeast, and sugar in a bowl.
Add the water, milk, warm.
Now add extra virgin olive oil and the salt
Mix until you get a compact dough that can detach from the sides of the bowl.
Take the dough and work it with your hands on the worktop, making it smooth and homogeneous.
(Work for 10 minutes).
Transfer the dough ball to a bowl, cover it with cling film, and let it rise for about 3 hours in the oven turned off with the light on.
The dough should double in size.
After this time, roll out the dough with the rolling pin to a thickness of 1/8 inches. Then cut it into diamonds or rhombuses.
Heat plenty of peanut oil and fry the gnocchi, 2-3 at a time, turning them halfway through cooking, allowing them to brown well on both sides.
(Or use lard as tradition wants)
As they are ready, take them out with a slotted spoon and place them on some paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Your fried gnocchi are ready, serve them piping hot accompanied and stuffed with mixed cold cuts and cheeses.
Enjoy your meal.