Today I would like to offer you a fabulous recipe that I would define as a "close relative of the Neapolitan struffoli": the circled. It is a ball-shaped crown of sweets, embellished with colored sprinkles and honey. Usually, cicerchiata is a fried carnival dessert, typical of Abruzzo, Marche and Molise, but I propose it in the baked version.
Video of the Recipe
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Identity Card of the Recipe
- 318 KCal Calories per serving
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Ingrediants
For the treats
- Optional: Half a cup of anise
- 4 g of baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 120 g (2 medium) of eggs
- Vanilla essence
- Grated rind of untreated lemon
- 30 g of butter
- 25 g of sugar
- 230 g of white flour of type 00
For decoration
- Optional: about 30 g of chocolate sprinkles
- Untreated lemon juice
- 170 g of honey
Materials Needed
- Bowl
- Scale weighs food
- Baking plate
- Baking paper
- Sieve
- Small saucepan
- Glass
Preparation
- In a bowl, combine the sifted white flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then flavor with lemon zest, anise and vanilla essence. Mix everything with the butter at room temperature - or slightly melted - and mix with two eggs until you get the consistency of the shortcrust pastry.
- Wrap the dough in a sheet of cling film and let it rest for half an hour at room temperature.
- Take the dough, cut it into four portions and, on each side, cut into long and thin cords, with a diameter of about one centimeter.
- From each string, cut into cubes, then work each cube with your hands to give it a round shape.
- Arrange all the balls in one or two baking plates lined with the appropriate paper.
- Bake the balls in a preheated oven at 160 ° C (ventilated) for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Did you know that
The original recipe calls for frying the sweets in oil: the oven cooking proposed in this recipe is a lighter version.- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- In a pan, combine the honey with the juice of half a lemon: bring to a boil. When the mixture begins to boil, gradually add the balls and stir the mixture until the honey appears completely absorbed (about 1 minute).
- Proceed with shaping the cicerchiata. Prepare a plate and, in the center, place a glass that will be used to create the hole in the crown of the sweets. Pour the sweets with honey around the glass: wait a few minutes before removing the glass from the center.
The alternative idea
It is also possible to make small single portions of cicerchiata: in this case, instead of making the "donut" of honey sweets, it is advisable to portion the balls into paper cups.- Finish with colored sprinkles.
Alice's comment - PersonalCooker
What do you say, is the cicerchiata colorful enough to celebrate Carnival? In addition to being delicious, it is a sweet that, just looking at it, makes you happy!Nutritional values and Health Comment on the recipe
Cicerchiata al Forno is a food that falls into the group of desserts. It has a significant energy contribution; calories come mainly from carbohydrates, followed by lipids and finally proteins.
Carbohydrates are mainly complex, fatty acids above all saturated and peptides tend to have medium and high biological value. Cholesterol is significant and the fibers present in medium quantities.
Cicerchiata al Forno is a food that does not lend itself to any diet; it is in fact contraindicated for overweight subjects suffering from metabolic imbalances such as: hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia.
The butter makes it unsuitable for the diet due to lactose intolerance and wheat flour totally excludes it from the diet for celiac disease (gluten intolerance). It is allowed in the diet of vegetarians but not in that of vegans.
The average portion of Cicerchiata al Forno is about 30g (95kcal).
