Caragnoli (Rose wheels Christmas fritters)

By Joschef

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• Flour as needed (about 2 cups to 2 1/4 cups)
• Vegetable oil for deep frying
• 2 to 3 cups of honey for topping or 1/4 cup to
• 1/2 cup icing sugar for dusting.

Preparation

Step 1

· In a mixing bowl beat eggs.
· Add sugar and mix well.
· Add oil.
· Mix flour and baking powder.
· Add the flour slowly to the egg, sugar and oil mixture and work into a soft dough.
· Knead (by hand) for a few minutes.
· Divide the dough into two portions and shape them into balls.
· Wrap the dough-balls in clear plastic and place them in separate containers.
· Let the dough rest for 4 to 6 hours in the fridge.
· Remove one of the dough-balls out of its container and form a log (Kind of like a biscotti log).
· With a sharp knife cut a small piece of dough (about 2 inches wide).
· Flour the piece of dough, and pass it through a pasta machine.
· The resulting pastry panel (or sheet) should be a bit thinner than a lasagna noodle (about an 1/8 of an inch thick).
· Using a serrated roller pastry cutter cut the pastry panel into strips about 1 3/4 inch wide x 26 inches long.
· To make the rose wheel take a strip of dough and fold it over, then every inch or so pinch the two sides together so that there is an opening or cup between every pinch (One can place one’s finger in the fold and then pinch on the side of the finger).
· When the strip of dough has been pinched and cups have been formed curl the dough onto itself, round and round, so that it looks like a rose.
· To retain this shape parts of the strips have to be pinched together.
· Repeat the steps for each piece of dough you cut.
· When all the rose wheels are completed, fry them in hot vegetable oil until they are golden.
· Cool.
· Glaze the rose wheels dipping them into a pan of hot honey and then place the caragnole onto a large tray, so that they will avoid sticking together.
· As an alternative to honey, one can simply dust the caragnole with icing sugar after they have been fried and cooled.