Cooking with the crafters #7 - Carnival of Venice's Sweet Treats

[Versione italiana]

The culinary adventure of “Cooking with the Crafters” goes on thanks to AliceCouture and some typical Venice’s Carnival treats! Last week we enjoyed “Fritoe”. This week Alice presents:

Galani
(or Chiacchere -chit chats, literally- or Crostoli)

Another typical sweet treat of Venice’s Carnival are Galani.
As you may notice from the title above, they have several different names, depending from the zone where they are produced.
Some academics reckon the origins of this treat to be really old, even going back to Ancient Rome times! We think, in fact, that Romans, during the celebrations for the upcoming spring, used to prepare sweets made of the same dough used for lasagne, fry them and cover them in sugar. What a delicacy!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
500 grams all purpose flour
1 orange, to grate and squeeze
1 lemon, to grate and squeeze
1 espresso cup of seeds oil
100 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
3 tea spoons of baking powder
1 espresso cup of dry white wine
2 table spoons of Grappa Veneta (or rhum or brandy)

Preparation:
This procedure is really easy!
Put first all the liquid ingredients in a bowl (oil, wine, eggs, orange juice, etc.) then add all the dry ones (flour, sugar, etc.).
Create an homogeneous mix, then knead the dough using a rolling pin and then cut it in rectangles or diamonds (of 15x8 cm circa) and slightly cut the surface in the middle. Now fry them in boiling oil until golden, soak them with kitchen paper and sprinkle abundantly with icing sugar.
Enjoy!

(in case you wish to convert the grams in your country’s measuring system units please go to this website)

Photos by RelyDesign

English translation by Tirabaralla.

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