Frappole – Italian Carnival crackers or angel wings

Sift the flour, the baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl.

Take a mixer (it’s easier!!) and combine the dry ingredients (flour&co) with the sugar, room temperature soft butter, eggs, vanilla, grappa.

Let the mixer work at low speed for few minutes up until the ingredients are well blended.

It’s time to use your hands. Remove the dough mix from the mixer and knead it on a hard surface for 1/2 minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky but refrain from adding flour if you can. We used a silicon mat instead of putting some flour on a cutting board, it helped! Cover the dough with a plastic sheet and let it rest in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the plastic and cut it in 4 pieces. Roll one piece with a pasta machine. The first round will come out almost in pieces. Do not worry. Fold it and roll it again, it will get more elastic. Put the pasta machine at “wide opening” at the beginning and slowly reduce the roll opening once you roll the dough again and again. We used the max opening at the beginning and we went down to 2 (it was not the smallest one) up until we obtained a 1/8-inch-thick sheet.

With a fluted pastry cutter, cut the dough into rectangles about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long.

Than divide the rectangle in 2 inches wide strips.

Cut a long line in the center of each strip (even two lines if you like!)

It’s time for deep frying. Place some vegetable oil in a pan and when the oil reaches 350/375ºF you can begin frying the frappole. Work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan. We fried 3 frappole at a time, they puffed immediately after 1/2  minutes.

Transfer the frappole on a paper towel to drain the extra oil and dust them with some powdered sugar. Enjoy!!

If you want to check the other Italian Carneval recipes see the links below, ciaoooo!!!!

Frittelle (Italian Carneval doughnuts)

M&M cookies

Homemade Pancakes