Chiacchiere recipe: how to make Italy’s most popular carnival sweet

Chiacchiere recipe: step by step guide to make the most popular Italian carnival sweet, loved by adults and kids alike.

Chiacchiere are the most popular of all Italian carnival sweets, a seasonal treat that makes its appearance in Italian bakeries and supermarkets around the end of January and then disappears again as carnival ends and lent starts.

They are mildly flavored, slightly aromatic, sweet strips of dough and they are easy to find everywhere in Italy albeit under different names!

Depending where you are, you may here them called frappe (this is what I call them, they are a staple of carnival in Rome!), chiacchiere, cenci, cordoli, fiocchetti, sfrappe, sfrappole (these are just the most common names) however, what you get it largely the same thing, the difference in flavor often depending more on the individual recipe than a regional variation.

In this post, I call them ‘chiacchiere’ as this is one of the most common and widespread names for them and one most people in Italy would recognize, even if maybe the call them differently at home.

The ingredients to make frappe (this is how I call them in Rome) are always the same and the difference from one recipe to the next usually is hte ratio eggs/flour and the liquor chosen.

Before sharing the recipe below, which is the one my family had been using for years, i asked friends for their own recipe and wow, te difference is incredible!

For the same amount of flour I got recipes with 1 up to 3 eggs and the cooks are divided between the use of yeast, essential for some and unnecessary and even ‘untraditional’ for others.

This I believe is a good thing: it means that the chiacchiere come out nice pretty much not matter what, which is a relief if you are looking for a simple and stress-free carnival sweet you can make with the kids.

How to cook chiacchiere: oven baked or fried?

In their original version, chiacchiere are a fried sweet however, oven baked version of them have been circulating for decades and are, for many, the favorite.

The choice between one or the other is entirely a matter of personal taste: the recipe is the same and you can even make one dough ball and then cook one in oil and one in the oven.

The fried version tends to be more aromatic and crumbly while the oven baked one, slightly milder. In both cases, they need to come out crunchy and with a tinge or aromatic taste from the liquor (or the citrus) used.

This is how you make chiacchiere.

Chiacchiere recipe: Ingredients

• All purpose flour: 2 cups / 300 gr + flour for dusting the working surface
• Eggs: 3
• Granulated sugar: 0.2 cups / 50gr
• Butter: 0.2 cups / 50 gr
• Liquor: a dash of marsala, grappa or whisky
• Milk: 1/2 glass
• Zest of one lemon
• Sunflower oil if frying
• Icing sugar for dusting

Good to know: if you want to make this recipe alcohol free, you can use orange juice instead. In that case, I recommend you also use 3gr of instant yeast to help the texture of the dough

How to make chiacchiere: step by step

Making chiacchiere is extremely easy. The only tricky bit is potentially the thinning of the dough and the cooking, here are our tips for that!

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, eggs, yeast if using, lemon zest and liquor.

Mix well: the dough will start powdery but soon start coming together in an elastic, smooth ball: should it result too dry, add slowly a little bit of milk until you get an elastic, smooth dough.

Work it with your hands until all the ingredients are well mixed and the dough has a smooth, consistent color, then wrap it is cling film and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes (room temperature is ok).

Once rested, take a dollop of dough and use a rolling pin to turn it into a very thin strip of of dough and when I mean very thin, I mean as thin as you can get, especially if frying!

Some people use a pasta making machine for this step but I find the rolling pin is best: use flour to prevent it from sticking and simply go as thin as the dough allows.

Repeat until you have used all the dough.

Once you are happy with it, cut it into strips and get ready to cook:

If oven baking, simply place the strips onto a sheet of baking paper and cook for about 10 minutes in the oven (180 degrees). They are ready as soon as golden and crisp

If frying, prepare a large pan with a generous amount of sunflower oil and cook them in small batches. The best result is cooking them in oil at 175C – it only takes a few minutes, then lift them off the oil with a slotted spoon and dry the excess oil.

As soon as not piping hot, dust with icing sugar and serve.

How to serve chiacchiere

Chiacchiere are snack and not a dessert as such. Usually they are presented in small trays as an accompaniment to coffee or tea and this is also the most common ways to find them in bakeries.

You usually by them by weight or size of tray and you only need a few even for a group of friends. So don’t think you need to make tons of them, everyone usually has one or two only!

Pin this! You can save this Italian chiacchiere recipe on Pinterest with the image below