Crostoli are a crispy fried Italian pastries which are popular during Carnevale and many other celebrations.
So light and flaky, Italian crostoli just melt in your mouth. Try stopping at just one – it’s impossible!
What are Crostoli?
Crostoli are traditional Italian pastries which are fried and dusted with sugar. They are eaten mostly at Carnevale which is the celebration just before Lent. However in Italy crostoli are sold in pastry shops throughout Lent. In other parts of the world these delicate pastries are also favourites at Christmas and other celebrations.
Interestingly, this is the crispy, lighter-than-air fried pastry is also known in Italy by many other name such as cenci, bugie or chiacchiere di carnevale. I have always known this pastry as ‘storce’ pronounced ‘storch’. This comes from the Italian word ‘storto’ which mean twisted or crooked. In the little village of Camagna Monferrato, we were served a plate of freshly made ‘storce’ along with meaning of the name.
In other parts of the world, you might know these as angel’s wings or Italian bow ties. Fried, sweet pastry is common to many countries not just Italy. This recipe for Norweigan Fattigman uses cardamom to flavour the pastry.
This tried and tested recipe.
While my late mother made delicious storce, her recipe went to the grave with her. So the recipe here is based on nonna’s crostoli recipe. Nonna Lucia (my husband’s grandmother) passed on her knowledge to my mother-in-law and I have slightly adapted it.
Ingredients for this recipe.
As with most traditional Italian recipes, the ingredients are very basic.
- flour
- eggs
- sugar
- brandy
- butter
- vanilla
- a pinch of salt for flavour
- oil for frying
Nonna’s recipe originally had no butter or vanilla but adds extra flavour.
How to make the dough.
Basically this is pasta dough and you will find more details about pasta making if you click here to read my Step by Step Pasta Making post. This dough can be made by hand or using a stand mixer.
To make this dough by hand:
- Place the flour onto a clean work surface.
- Make a well in the centre and add all the ingredients except the oil for frying.
- Use your fingertips or a fork to gradually blend the wet ingredient slowly gathering in flour to form dough.
- Knead well until smooth and elastic.
To make this dough with a stand mixer:
- Place flour into bowl of stand mixer.
- Add all ingredients except the oil for frying.
- Using a paddle attachment, mix to form dough.
- Switch to dough hook attachment and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Crostoli shapes.
Roll the dough thinly and shape any way you desire. Check out my Easter Nests using this dough. However in saying that these fried pastries are usually shaped by cutting a slit into strips of dough and one end folded through the slit. If you would like to make Italian bow ties, simply pinch the strips of the dough in the centre to form bow ties.
How to make perfect crostoli every time.
The nature of these Italian pastries is that they are delicate, crisp and crumble as you bite into them. To succeed with this recipe, there are a couple of important points to remember.
- The dough should be soft but not sticky.
- Roll the dough as thin as possible – almost see through.
- The oil must be hot – approx 180°C/350°F.
- Pastries must cook quickly so that they don’t absorb oil and become heavy.
Do you need a pasta machine to make this recipe?
This recipe is much easier if you have a pasta machine. However it is possible to roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Admittedly, no one had pasta machines in years gone by! Stretching the dough as well as rolling the dough will help achieve the correct thinness.
Can these Italian fried pastries be made without using alcohol?
This recipe uses brandy. Other recipes use grappa, rum, whiskey or even white wine. While I have never made crostoli without alcohol, it is possible to substitute milk for the alcohol. The pastries may not bubble as well or have the same flavour but will still be delicious.
Which is the best oil for frying crostoli?
My preferred oil is rice bran oil because it has a high smoke point and neutral taste. But use any light flavoured oil – vegetable, canola or grapeseed – will all work well.
How to store crostoli.
This recipe makes quite a few pastries but these last for several weeks if stored well. Be sure to use an airtight container. I prefer tupperware which has a good seal. Line the base of the container with baking paper so that is comes up the sides a little. This will minimise crostoli absorbing a “plastic” smell. Lay a sheet over the top as well before sealing with the lid.
Call these Italian fried pastries crostoli, chiacchiere, angels wings or Italian bow ties, it doesn’t matter, the addiction is the same! Now everyone can enjoy a little bit of Italy at home.
Here’s more Italian favourites for you!
Pizzelle
Italian Pignoli Cookies
Orange and Almond Cookies
Italian Fig Cookies
Chewy Amaretti Cookies by It’s Not Complicated
Almond Cookies by It’s Not Complicated
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Crostoli
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons (1oz/30g) butter slightly softened
- 1 tablespoon brandy see notes for substitutes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 2 cups rice bran oil for frying (grapeseed or vegetable oil could be used)
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
To make the Crostoli dough – hand mixing method
- Place the flour on a clean work surface.
- Make a well in the centre. Add the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, butter, brandy, vanilla and salt.
- Use your fingertips or a fork to gradually blend the wet ingredient slowly gathering in flour until the dough starts to come together. Add a little more brandy if needed to form a ball.
- Knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes.
To make the Crostoli dough – stand mixer method
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, place the flour.
- Add in the eggs, egg yolk, butter, brandy, sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix on low until combine.
- Switch to dough hook attachment and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes.
To roll and prepare Crostoli for frying
- Cut small portion of dough off the “mother” dough.
- Flatten the smaller piece and begin to pass through the pasta machine on the widest setting.
- Fold and pass it through the widest setting. Continue to fold and pass through the pasta machine 5 or 6 times until the dough is smooth.
- Dust with extra flour as required.
- Begin to reduce the setting until you are at the finest setting.
- Pass the dough through the finest setting and place the length of dough on to you work surface. With the Kitchen Aid Pasta roller, I find I need to go through the thinest setting twice. You could also manually (but carefully) stretch the dough to ensure it is as thin.
- Cut the dough along the length into about 2in pr 5cm strips which will be approximately 4 -6 inches/10-15cm long. This is just to give you an idea but really how you cut is up to you.
- I make a small cut in the middle of each piece and twist one end through the cut, as you can see above.
To fry Crostoli
- Heat oil in a heavy, high sided frypan.
- When the oil is hot (350°F180ºC) slip in 3 or 4 crostoli (or more depending on the diameter of the frypan).
- Work quickly because they take about 30 seconds (or less) to cook on each side if you have the oil hot enough. Turn them (I like to use two forks) once a lot of bubbles have formed and before they colour too deeply. Crostoli should be light golden in colour. If they are brown, they are burnt.
- When cooked on both sides, remove them and drain them on absorbent paper. Crostoli will be a little soft but will crispen on cooling. If crostoli take too long to cook it means that the oil is not hot enough and they will absorb too much oil resulting in heavy crostoli.
- When cool, dust generously with powdered sugar.
- Store in an airtight container for two weeks.
Video
Notes
- The dough should be soft but not sticky.
- Roll the dough as thin as possible – almost see through.
- The oil must be hot – 350°F/180ºC.
- Pastries must cook quickly so that they don’t absorb oil and become heavy.
- You could use grappa, rum, whiskey or even white wine.
- While I have never made crostoli without alcohol, it is possible to substitute milk for the alcohol. The pastries may not bubble as well or have the same flavour but will still be delicious.
These are so delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
I had this once and can’t wait to bring back those memories. note to self: double batch the recipe because it’s hard to stop munching on these
So true! You can’t stop at just one!
This was so good, I already can’t wait to make again!
Glad you enjoyed these crostoli!