Sfrappole di carnevale ripiene con marmellata di prugne (Carnival Sfrappole filled with plum jam)

Sfrappole are a typical carnival dessert in Italy, to be precise and the name it bears in Emiglia Romagna. I make classic sfrappole every year for Carnival, this year I decided to make them stuffed, I must admit… there is much more to do than the classic sfrappole but as usual the more you work the more satisfaction you get. In any case the base for both classic and stuffed sfrappole: 500g of flour, juice of 2 oranges, 2 eggs and 5 tablespoons of sugar. First you squeeze the oranges, filter the juice and then add the sugar and eggs. This time I used some fantastic Sicilian blood oranges, so the mixture turned out a little dark in color. Mix everything with a fork and then start adding the flour a little at a time. If the mixture is too thick, add a little anise or a little more fruit juice. Once the dough is obtained, leave it to rest for 1 hour covered with a clean cloth.

Once the dough for the sfrappole has rested, start working the dough by hand on a pastry board and then roll out the dough with a rolling pin to obtain a fairly thin sheet. Cut out some squares and add the plum jam to the center. Fold the dough in half, so you will obtain triangles… and don’t worry if they are not perfect, because: “A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale” in Italian also rhymes. Put a wok pan with some seed oil (I use sunflower oil), when it is nice and hot add your sfrappole, fry them on both sides and then place them on absorbent paper for fried food. Sprinkle some icing sugar, I use vanilla icing sugar… it is more fragrant :-).

Buon Carnevale…dove ogni scherzo vale 🙂