E' carnevale: Orzo♥Coffee & Orange Castagnole

The perfect recipe to celebrate Carnevale!

As you might know the period before lent in Italy is celebrated as 'Carnevale' ... it is the period of dressing-up, masks and jokes and of course lots of cakes (mostly deep fried). 

To celebrate Carnevale we share a recipe for Castagnole (translate as little chestnuts) traditional little cakes that are prepared and enjoyed in this period all over Italy.

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Ingredients (resulting in circa 35 castagnole to share)

40 gr of butter (soften at room temperature)
200 gr of plain flour
10 gr of baking powder (2 teaspoons)
50 gr of sugar
75 gr of orange peels
1 orange (zest from peel only)
2 tablespoons of Orzo♥Coffee Pronto 
2 eggs
1 pinch of salt
Icing sugar for dusting

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Let's start!

♥   This recipe can be used to cook your castagnole in the oven or to deep fry them. 
If you plan to prepare them in the over, as we did, preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 4

♥  Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the orange peel) and start mixing them together with your hands or a fork.

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♥  When the ingredients have reached the consistency of a soft dough you can transfer them to a board or your kitchen worktop with some flour to kneed them together further.

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♥  once you reached a uniform consistency, you can kneed in also the orange peel

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♥  As shown in the photos above the dough is now ready to start create some small balls (the size of a little chestnuts). Divide the dough into 2. Roll each part into a long and thin shape, cut the roll into little segments (2-3 cm in lenght). Work each segment into a little ball. You should get around 15-18 little castagnole from each rolls.  

  ♥  The castagnole are now ready to be cooked.
If you want a healthier option place them in a oven tin and cook for 15-20 minutes, until just golden.
♥  If you want to follow the Carnevale tradition, then prepare a little frying pan with boiling frying oil (180/200 C). Drop 4-5 castagnole in the hot oil and fry them for 2-3 minutes (until golden). Once ready, drain them from the oil and place on some kitchen paper. Repeat the operation for all of your castagnole.


You castagnole are ready to serve. Place them on a serving plate and dust with icing sugar. They are lovely served when they are still warm. Another perfect match to enjoy with a cup of  Orzo♥Coffee!
Enjoy a little taste of the Italian carnevale!

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