YOUR FLORENCE EXPERIENCE

FINE ARTS AND
CULTURE ACADEMY

Carnevale desserts: Cenci

During Carnevale each of us should let go and have some fun, no more diets, but rather, it is time to indulge in sweets! That's why there are so many pastry preparations related to this period. In particular, a dessert ever present at carnival in Tuscany are "Cenci" (rags), sweet fried dough with irregular shapes, sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Similar pastry sweets were already prepared in ancient Rome at this time of the year,  they were pastries fried in lard, called "frictilia". A tradition that has evolved and lasted to today.
Cenci are not traditional sweets typical only of Tuscany, but are widespread throughout Italy with other names and recipes that vary from region to region, such as  as "frappe" in Lazio, "chiacchiere" in Puglia, Sicily and Calabria, or "bugie" in Piedmont.
Today we offer you the traditional Tuscan recipe:

CENCI

300 gr of flour
50 gr of sugar
50 grams of melted butter 2 eggs
1 shot glass of sweet Vin Santo
1 teaspoon of grated orange peel
salt
 oil for frying (corn oil or sunflower oil)
powdered sugar

In a bowl, combine flour, eggs, sugar, melted butter, Vin Santo, a pinch of salt and knead for about 10 minutes. When the dough is smooth, make a ball of it and leave it in the fridge for about half an hour. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out very thin, about 2 mm, with a rolling pin or with a pasta roll machine. Cut it with a toothed wheel or a knife in large strips about 15 cm long, and then cut these into pieces of about 5 cm. Do not worry about being precise, Cenci are asymmetrical by nature! Fry the pieces in abundant oil and as they are ready place them on a sheet of absorbent paper and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

You can enjoy Cenci both hot and cold, and accompanied by a glass of Vin Santo, a sweet wine produced in Tuscany, they are a real treat!

Inscrivez-vous

Tenez-vous au courant sur nos nouvelles...inscrivez-vous à notre newsletter!