The Carnival Chatters or Carnival Lies are typical of the Carnival period, whether they are fried or baked, with Alchermes or powdered sugar, they must not be missing from the table, traditions must be respected! So, I present to you my recipe with which you will get about forty Carnival Chatters, nice and crunchy and not too small.
A recipe that only my Grandma Licia used to prepare at my house, my mother was not good at these things, she just couldn’t manage. For me, the taste is definitely better than the packaged ones and certainly beats the bakery ones that are often too dry. Of course, it’s a recipe to make many, I understand, but you won’t regret it, you’ll see!
If you like Carnival sweets, try the Peaches with Nutella or the Fritters, they are obviously always Grandma’s recipes!
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Stove, Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
- Energy 66.21 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 10.95 (g) of which sugars 2.11 (g)
- Proteins 2.17 (g)
- Fat 1.79 (g) of which saturated 0.97 (g)of which unsaturated 0.74 (g)
- Fibers 0.28 (g)
- Sodium 27.67 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 20 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 for Carnival Chatters:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 packet vanilla sugar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 pinch salt
- 3.5 tbsps butter (at room temperature)
- 1 packet baking powder
Tools to make Carnival Lies:
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Scale
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Rolling Board
- 1 Plastic Wrap
- 1 Pasta Machine
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 2 Paper Towels
Preparation for Carnival Chatters or Lies:
The first thing I must confess to you for preparing Carnival Chatters is that I don’t make the classic well with the flour because I have the “Holy Stand Mixer,” so I work faster and without any effort in this and many other preparations. So, if you have this holy help, run to get it from the pantry; otherwise, arm yourself with a wooden board and elbow grease. If you want to buy the stand mixer like mine, you can find it by clicking here.
Let’s start by sifting the flour together with the baking powder and pour it all into the stand mixer’s bowl. Then, add the sugar and salt and the eggs that we have previously beaten in a bowl with the help of an electric mixer, as always, the effort is minimal for me. Let the stand mixer work until all the ingredients are well combined.
Then add the room temperature butter and the vial of vanilla sugar, or if you prefer, the seeds of a vanilla bean. Continue to work everything until these last two ingredients are also well combined. At this point, we must use our hands to form the dough into a spherical shape, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature (please: neither fridge nor heat). After this resting period, we will finally have the dough ready for our Carnival Chatters
Now let’s take the pasta roller; I have the classic crank one, unfortunately, so you can understand my envy towards those who have the electric one.
Start rolling out the dough until you reach a thickness of about 1/16 to 1/8 inch. If necessary, assist yourself in this process with a little flour. Once all the dough is rolled out, we can start heating the oil for frying. While waiting for the oil to heat up, take the fluted cutter, and create the classic and well-known two central cuts of the Carnival Chatters.
For cooking them, I help myself with a slotted spoon and fry no more than two or three at a time; I need to be able to turn them well on both sides, and I’m meticulous in their cooking because they must be crunchy but not overdone. Even the final stage, removing excess oil, requires attention. Leave them on paper towels and turn them at least once on each side. Once cold, before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with Alchermes (to your taste, of course).
Enjoy your meal!!!
Storage:
You can store Carnival Chatters or Lies closed in a paper bag with a rigid tray underneath, either paper or polystyrene. I often keep those from pastries so that I have them when needed, as in this case.
Note: As indicated during the recipe, you can cook the Carnival Lies either in the oven or by frying them; they are delicious in both cases. As for the garnish, you can use powdered sugar or the classic Alchermes, which gives that typical pink color of the Carnival Chatters.
Other Carnival recipes:
If you liked this recipe and want to try other typical Carnival recipes, I recommend the Fritters or Castagnole of Bea, or you can look for some new recipe on the Fan Page of my blog Le Ricette di Bea and subscribe for free to the News Letter service via Messenger chat.
