To begin at the beginning, perhaps the best-known Carnival pastries are Cenci (the word means rags), whose many aliases include Frappe, Chiacchere (gossips), Lattughe (lettuce leaves) and Nastrini (ribbons); Ada Boni, who borrows
Pellegrino
Artusi’s recipe, uses the more poetic "Lover’s Knots." They are very pretty when carefully made, so she is probably right. To make a batch you will need:
- 1 3/4 cups (225 g) flour
- 2 tablespoons sweet butter
- 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon brandy
- A pinch of salt
- More confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Make a fairly stiff dough with these ingredients, kneading it thoroughly, and adding more flour if it comes out too soft. Flour it and let it rest, covered, for about an hour. Then roll it out into an eighth-of-an-inch-thick (3 mm) sheet, and use a serrated pastry wheel to cut it into strips as long as your palm and two fingers wide. Make a cut down the middle of each cencio (so as to obtain two strips joined at the ends), twist the side strips without breaking them, fry them in hot
oil or lard, and dust them with confectioners sugar when they’re cool. This recipe is sufficient to make a platterful. Should the dough have formed a crust while it sat, knead it again before you roll it out.
Carnival Recipes
