‘Semel in anno licet insanireʼ is a Latin way of saying that means: ‘once a year, it’s okay to go crazy’ – which refers to a time when it is legitimate to think and act out of the box and have fun, then adapted to Carnival.

One of the culinary symbols of Italian Carnival is Chiacchiere, “chit-chats”. They are a version of Angel Wings and they are known with various names throughout the whole of Italy: bugie (lies, in Piedmont), frappe (in Lazio), lattughe (lettuce, in Brescia and Mantova cities), just to name a few.

Although classically the chiacchiere would be deep-fried, there is also the baked version, just lighter.

Serve: 4-6 | Preparation: 10 mins + 30 mins for the dough| Cooking: 15 mins

  • Italian cake & pastry flour or plain flour / All Purpose Flour: 250 g
  • Butter, unsalted and soft: 25g
  • Caster sugar: 20 g
  • Vanilla extract : 8 ml
  • Eggs: 2
  • Baking powder: 2 tsp
  • Lemon zest: of about ½ lemon
  • Milk, to taste
  • Icing sugar: a sprinkle just for garnishing
  • A pinch of salt

Method

Pour the flour onto the work surface and make a well in the middle. Place in the caster sugar, the vanilla extract, the eggs, the baking powder, the lemon zest and a pinch of salt.

Beat up the eggs in the well, then add the soften butter and start mixing the ingredients with a fork. Afterwards, start kneading with your hands until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough ball-shaped, the wrap it in clingfilm. Leave it to rest for half an hour at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Use a pasta machine or a rolling pin to flatten out the dough; it shouldn’t be thicker than 2-3 mm. Use a dough cutter to cut out rectangles
that are about 10 cm in lenght and 5 cm in width; cut into the inside and around the edges with a ravioli wheel. If you don’t have one, just use the prongs of a fork. Lay the rectangles of dough on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Bush with some milk just right before putting the tray in the oven, then bake to 180 c for about 15 mins or until they are golden.

Allow to cool down before garnishing them with icing sugar.

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