Crostoli
Crostoli are a crispy fried Italian pastries which are popular during Carnevale and many other holidays.
So light and flaky, Italian crostoli just melt in your mouth. Try stopping at just one – it’s impossible!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
Crostoli are traditional Italian pastries which are fried and dusted with sugar. What’s not to love!!
These pastries 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 holidays.
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.
While my late mother made delicious storce, her recipe went to the grave with her. So the recipe here is based on nonna’s Italian fried dough recipe. Nonna Lucia (my husband’s grandmother) passed on her knowledge to my mother-in-law and I have slightly adapted it.
For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Ingredients
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 these adds extra flavour.
Instructions
Basically this is pasta dough and you will find more details about making pasta such as tagliatelle and fagottini on my site. 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.
How to shape crostoli
Roll the dough thinly and shape any way you desire. 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.
Try my Birds Nest Cookies for more festive treats.
Tips for Success
The nature of these Italian fried 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.
- Don’t let the pastry dry out before frying.
- The oil must be hot – approx 180°C/350°F.
- Pastries must cook quickly so that they don’t absorb oil and become heavy.
FAQ
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.
This recipe uses brandy. Other recipes use grappa, rum, whiskey or even white wine. While I have never made these Italian pastries 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.
My preferred oil is grape seed oil because it has a high smoke point and neutral taste. But use any light flavoured oil – vegetable, canola or rice bran – will all work well.
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.
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More Italian favorites 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
Crostoli Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) plain all purpose flour
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 2 tablespoons (1 ounce/30 grams) butter slightly softened
- 1 tablespoon (15 mls) brandy see notes for substitutes
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2 cups grape seed oil for frying (rice bran or vegetable oil could be used)
- powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
To make the Crostoli dough – hand mixing method
- Place the all purpose flour on a clean work surface.
- Make a well in the centre. Add the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, butter, brandy, vanilla extract 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
- Place the all purpose flour in a stand mixer bowl and attach the paddle attachment.
- Add the eggs, egg yolk, butter, brandy, sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Mix on low until combined.
- 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 2 inches (5 centimeter )strips which will be approximately 4 -6 inches (10-15 centimeters) 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°F/180ºC) 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.
Notes
- Use either salted or unsalted butter.
- 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 flavor but will still be delicious.
Nutritional Estimate Per Serving
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.
How long can the crostoli dough be kept in the refrigerator before using?
Elizabeth, it would probably keep a few days but I’d prefer to use it within a day. Be sure to have it well wrapped and sealed so that the dough isn’t exposed to air.
I don’t know if is me, but I could find the portion for the ingredients, so how good it could be?
Just click on the “Jump to the Recipe” button at the top of the page or scroll down to the recipe card. It’s a great recipe! I know you’ll love it. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Very clear instructions!! Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing this fantastic recipe. I’m 74 years old and grew up on these. Our big Italian family made them every Christmas and Easter season. We never put alcohol in them but I will surely try this when I make them for the holiday. Rather than dusting with powdered sugar, we drizzle honey over them–super delicious. I have been using a bread machine, on the dough cycle to make the dough and a pasta machine to roll them. I’m sure we make well over 300 of these every time, as we always double or triple the recipe.
Hello Lorraine! Thank you for sharing your loving story about your traditions! My goodness, that honey drizzle sounds delicious!!
Here it is almost Christmas again and I will be making these delicious cookies again. I forgot to mention we add anise oil to our recipe but I’m sure anisette would work as well. Also the honey must be heated before drizzling over the cookies. Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a Very Merry Christmas. God’s Blessings.
Honey would be lovely drizzled over the crostoli, Lorraine! Merry Christmas!
I grew up with these. My parents were Ukrainian. We called them khrustiki “harustiki). (different recipe than yours)I used to make them but I hate all the rolling and stretching. I just bought a pasta machine and cant wait to try your recipe. We used to sub the alcohol with a teaspoon of vinegar. I used to have a small gift store and found a wholesale place in Toronto called Vincenzos. They came on plates of about 50. I sold about 200 in my store every Christmas. Even after I retired I had a list of about 40 people that I would get them for. That is how good these are!
Oh Trish, I love that you still make sure that everyone gets some for Christmas! Vinegar sounds like a good substitute for the alcohol in your traditional Ukrainian khrustiki. Now when you make these with your pasta machine, you won’t believe how easy these are – no more rolling and stretching!
We are practically neighbours, Trish! I moved from Toronto to New Hamburg, (near Kitchener), and there is a Vincenzo’s in
downtown Kitchener. Could that be the one you used to buy from? Anyway my dough for the crostoli is resting so I will post my review when I’m done. I’m sure they’ll be delicious.
Lola.
The best recipe for crostoli!
Our family makes these, too. My mother learned from my dads mom (from Italy). Our recipe is very similar to yours. We call them brustilli in our family. My neighbors look for them every Christmas!
I’ve never had cristoli before but I have been really into baking lately so I will definitely be making this soon!
I think you’ll love them, Sam!
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!
My mother would buy these for us as a treat growing up. I’d love to be able to make them at home for a treat for my own kids. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Crostoli are a wonderful treat! I’m sure your kids would love them as much as you did!
We loved these. Our family loved it so much that we think you could eat this every day and not only at Christmas or at a carnival!
True! I just had one with my coffee yesterday!
My recipe for crostoli has the grated rind of 4 oranges and 4 lemons for 12 eggs. Iit also asks for 1 cup of white wine and 1cup of white rum. you cannot taste the alcohol because it evaporates when frying
Sounds like a delicious recipe, Teresa!
Hi Marcellina,
How do you get your crostoli such a beautiful light colour after frying? I fry mine for 30sec on each side and they are dark colour. They still taste good but i don’t like the colour. I use white sugar, deep fry with rice bran oil and use Marsala as the alcohol. Could the marsala be the reason?
Hi Angela, I think it could be the marsala. I have never used marsala so I couldn’t say for sure. Is your oil too hot? You could also try using grapeseed oil or a vegetable oil but I don’t think the dark colour is from the type of oil. The first thing to try is swapping out the marsala for a brandy, grappa or rum. If that doesn’t work, adjust the temperature of your oil. It’s such a balancing act – hot enough not to have the dough absorb oil but cool enough to not brown the crostoli too much. Let me know how you go.
Hi Marcellina.
My crostoli came out not so crunchy but still looked good.
How can i improve…?
Hi Lucy! Did your crostoli become more crunchy on cooling? I hope so. Otherwise my only guess is that the oil may not have been hot enough and the crostoli would need more cooking. To salvage the crostoli, I would try laying them out on oven trays and popping into a preheated oven (around 180ºC/350ºF) for 5-10 minutes. I think this would work but just try a few first before you do the whole lot. I’d love to know how you go and if it helps.
Hi did you use s.r flour or plain. Can I also halve the ingredients as I don’t want to make 100
Hi Maria, crostoli are made with plain flour. The bubbles in the dough come from having the correct heat and my mum used to say, the alcohol in the dough. It’s also important not to let the cut crostoli dry out before frying. Yes, absolutely, this quantity can be halved. Enjoy! xx
I had never heard of crostoli before but they look and sound wonderful, and am so inspired to make them! Thank you Marcellina!
Robyn, these are wonderfully light. A classic Italian pastry.
Truly impossible to stop at one 🙂 and no need to store since it’s gone in a flesh of light 🙂 Grazie milla !
Yes, I scoff these down pretty quickly, too!
Marcellina, these crostoli are wonderful! So light and crispy! They would be wonderful with a cup of coffee!
Oh yes, they didn’t last long here, I must admit!
So excited to try this delicious recipe! 🙂
Thanks Alexandra! You will be tasting so many delicious pastries right now that I’m just a bit jealous 😉 Are there any bakeries making Panettoni yet?