Fried puffs for Carnival, small puffs that we can fill in many different ways. We can fill them with classic cream, ricotta, hazelnut cream, pistachio cream, and whatever our imagination suggests.
In many pastry shops, they are sold as stuffed castagnole, but castagnole have a different dough, they can be soft castagnole or hard castagnole. The ones I prepared are the classic San Giuseppe fried puffs traditionally made on March 19th for Father’s Day, but they’re so good that I thought it was right to enjoy them on other occasions too.
I decided to make them smaller to resemble castagnole, and like these, I recommend covering them with a bit of vanilla powdered sugar after filling them and before serving to your guests.
Making them is not difficult at all, you just need to follow some small steps, and by following the recipe, I can guarantee the result, you won’t have to buy them anymore. Incredibly, despite being fried, they will remain very dry on the outside. It is important to cook them in hot oil and maintain a rather high and constant oil temperature during cooking to make them puff well and be hollow inside.
I’ll also leave you with other recipes suitable for Carnival and beyond because a sweet and genuine snack is good all year round.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 40 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 60 puffs
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
Ingredients for puffs
- 4.2 oz water
- 1.8 oz butter
- 3.5 oz all-purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups vegetable oil
Tools
To mix the puffs well, I recommend using a planetary mixer with the leaf hook or a good electric mixer. For frying, a high-sided saucepan with a diameter of 9.5 inches.
- 1 Planetary mixer Howork
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Tongs
Preparation
Here is the recipe to prepare the puffs, the empty base to be filled with colorful creams of your choice to make your table always more colorful and varied.
We start by putting water, butter, and a pinch of salt in a high-sided saucepan with a diameter of 7-8 inches, bring it to the stove, and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, add all the flour at once and stir energetically with a wooden spoon until the dough becomes compact and detaches well from the sides. I apologize for the blurry photo, but it is taken from a video, however, you can clearly see how the dough becomes when cooking. When it is nice and compact and detaches from the sides, turn off the stove and put the dough in the planetary mixer’s bowl and let it cool for at least 10 minutes.
When the dough is lukewarm, start mixing it with the leaf hook at medium speed so it cools well and add first the yolk, then the eggs one at a time while continuing to mix. It’s very important to wait each time until the eggs are well incorporated into the dough and it becomes compact again before adding the next egg. The dough should be nice and compact as you see in the photo.
When you have added all the eggs and the dough is compact again, you can turn off the planetary mixer and let the dough rest in a covered bowl for 30 minutes.
After the resting time, pour the vegetable oil into the saucepan and bring it to the stove on high flame to heat it up. Only when the oil is very hot can you start frying. You’ll know the oil is ready for cooking when inserting a toothpick into the oil, it is covered with bubbles like it should fry. You can now start putting small pieces of dough in. I used two teaspoons, took the dough with one and used the other to help it drop into the oil. You need to take small amounts of dough, just under half a teaspoon.
The dough will increase considerably when frying, so to resemble the carnival castagnole they need to be small balls. Place the small puffs in hot oil and maintain a rather high oil temperature, but not so high as to burn them. For this reason, the first ones will fry with a very high flame, then gradually lower it a bit to avoid burning the oil but always maintaining a high temperature. You can also help maintain the temperature by covering the saucepan with a lid while they cook. As you can see in the photo, the puffs should fry vigorously so they turn many times on their own and puff well, remaining hollow inside. Occasionally, you can help them turn gently.
When they are well browned and puffed, remove them from the oil with the help of cooking tongs and let them drain in a colander and then cool on a plate.
NOTES
The resulting puffs will be quite crunchy on the outside and hollow inside to be filled. Among the most recommended fillings, I suggest ricotta or the classic custard or hazelnut cream. I mix the ricotta with powdered sugar and add a bit of maraschino. These are normally the Carnival fillings, but you can really unleash your imagination. Once filled, you can keep your puffs in the refrigerator covered until ready to serve, and I recommend dusting them with a bit of powdered sugar before serving.
This recipe contains one or more affiliate links.
If you liked the recipe or have questions, don’t hesitate to comment here or on social media Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and X.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can they be frozen?
Yes, you can safely freeze your puffs after frying, but when defrosted they will still be very good but will be soft on the outside.
