Every year I spend my summer holidays in Abruzzo and when I return home, I cook the amazing dishes from this region. This time, it’s the turn of the Stuffed Celli Abruzzo Recipe, the delicious sweet cillarichijene made with a dough of flour, oil, and white wine, filled with almonds, chocolate, and other ingredients, but the main one is the Montepulciano grape scrucchiata, the typical Abruzzo jam. As with all traditional recipes, each town adds or removes something, and by asking several locals, I prepared them with the recipe closest to the taste of those I tried. The Celli do not contain eggs, milk, or butter. If you also want to prepare them and can’t find the grape scrucchiata, you can opt for berry jam; they will be just as good. If you want to try other sweets from this region, read the recipe for the Ortona Pizzelle, truly delicious.
Other regional sweet recipes
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 40 Celli
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Abruzzo
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 119.67 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 16.91 (g) of which sugars 6.44 (g)
- Proteins 2.13 (g)
- Fat 5.13 (g) of which saturated 0.75 (g)of which unsaturated 2.61 (g)
- Fibers 0.96 (g)
- Sodium 8.56 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 33 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
- 4 cups cups all-purpose flour
- 2.5 oz oz extra virgin olive oil
- 2.5 oz oz corn oil
- 0.6 cup cups dry white wine
- 0.7 oz oz sugar
- 10.6 oz oz jam (Montepulciano grape scrucchiata)
- 1 oz oz dark chocolate 75%
- 2.5 oz oz dry biscuits (or amaretti)
- 3.5 oz oz almonds (toasted)
- 0.35 oz oz unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
- 1 oz oz sugar
Tools
- Bowl
- Pastry Board
- Food Scale
- Parchment Paper
Steps
Pour the extra virgin olive oil mixed with the corn oil, white wine, and sugar into a large bowl. The sugar is optional since the filling provides enough sweetness. Microwave the bowl for a few minutes to melt the sugar if you add it, and let it cool.
Gradually add the sifted flour, and once the dough starts to firm up, finish kneading on the pastry board. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Crush the amaretti; I put them in a bag and crushed them with a rolling pin. Toast the almonds and chop them with a knife. Do the same with the chocolate.
Combine the crushed ingredients in a bowl, add the grape jam, the unsweetened cocoa, and mix the filling.
To form the Celli, some prefer to roll out the pastry with a rolling pin or pasta machine, but I take small 25-gram portions from the dough and roll them into balls with my hands. Once done, I flatten them, form a round base where a teaspoon of filling is placed, and close it in a half-moon shape.
Pinch the edges with your fingers to ensure the filling doesn’t leak during cooking, fold the edge, and close the ends to form a large tortellone. As they’re ready, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F in static mode for 20 minutes, checking they don’t darken. Remove from oven and, while still hot, roll the Celli in sugar.
