Buon giorno a tutti. In this episode, Nonna Mia, la nonna di tutti (everyone’s grandma), shows us SCALILLE, a sweet, fried Southern Italian Christmas Classic!
Recipes for this sweet fried dough treat vary considerably region to region and family to family, as does its name. Scalille, scaliddri, scalilli, scalette, depending on the dialect, means little ladders. At our home, without fail, every Christmas we whip up big batches of scalille, turdili (wine cookie) and chianuille (filled pastry).
Here are the ingredients that you will need to make them Nonna’s way. There’s a slight Canadian twist – Canada Dry Ginger Ale came when Nonna and her sister-in-law, Gilda, began making them some six decades ago in Canada.
Recipe:
– 10 large eggs
– 8 cups (1 kg) all purpose flour (6c for the nest; 2c while kneading)
– 2 cups of sugar (400 grams)
– 1 cup of canola or olive oil (250 ml)
– 1 cup of ginger ale (250 ml)
– 4 teaspoons of baking powder (18 grams)
– powdered sugar for dusting or
– if you want to roll them in honey (warm up about 2 cups of honey, pour in a little water to thin out the honey a bit for easier coating / stop the honey from burning)
Nonna uses her big board for blending/kneading/rolling, but you can also mix in a large bowl. Because eggs vary in size, the flour might vary somewhat, so have extra on the side if needed.
Knead the dough until soft and smooth, not sticky and divide the dough into smaller, more workable portions. You will eventually need to transfer the dough to a dusted surface to roll ‘snakes’, about a foot long for shaping.
Nonna makes two twists in the center of each Scalille and then pinches the edge to hold it in place. Using water or egg can also help to secure the ends in place. Of course you can make them smaller or bigger – it depends on you. Some families like to use a stick to wrap the dough around.
You will require canola oil for frying the pastries – pour the oil about 1.5 inches high and heat to about 350F/190C. Canola has a higher burn point than olive oil, so Nonna prefers to fry with that. Test with a small piece of dough to ensure it is hot enough.
It just takes a few minutes to fry them to a golden brown colour. Drain off excess oil by placing the Scalille on paper towels.
Here, in this demonstration, we dusted the Scalille with powdered (icing) sugar, however, you can heat up honey and roll the pastries through the honey. Maple syrup makes for a lovely Canadian twist! Some people like to add sprinkles on top of the honey, but we never did.
Feel free to modify the flavour to suit your family’s preferences – some families like anise, or lemon, or cinnamon or sprinkles – the possibilities are endless.
Nonna freezes them plain and then tops them just before serving with warm honey or powdered sugar. This will yield over 30 scalille about the length of your hand, so feel free to half the recipe if you have a smaller family or you don’t wish to freeze them.
Buon appetito!
If you want to watch Nonna make turdilli or chianuille, please click on these links:
Turdilli:
Chianuille:
Contact Details:
Mobile: 1 249.877.8822 or via
Email: nonnamiarecipes@gmail.com & josietulipano@gmail.com
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