During Carnival time in Florence you can taste some very special treats like cenci and schiacciata alla fiorentina. Here our recipe to prepare these two carnival sweets!Recipe of Cenci
Cenci are a special carnival sweet made of fried dough dusted with powdered sugar.
300gr of plain flour
3 eggs
50 gr of sugar
2 tablespoon of Vin Santo
3 tablespoon of olive oil
The zest of 1 lemon
1 pinch of salt
Frying oil, as needed
Mix all the ingredients for 10 minutes, then set the dough in a round shape and let it rest for half an hour. Roll out the dough until 2 mm, cut it in strips 2 cm wide and then cut it another time diagonally.
Fry the strips in boiling oil, they should be completely submerged in oil. Let the fried stripes cool out and then serve them dusted with powdered sugar.
Recipe of Schiacciata alla fiorentina
It’s called schiacciata because the traditional cake is made with the bread’s dough, but it’s a proper cake.
250gr of plain flour
80gr of sugar
80gr of pork lard
15gr brewer’s yeast
1 egg
The zest of one orange
1 packet of vanilla powder
1 pinch of nutmeg, saffron and salt
Powdered sugar, as needed
Dissolve the yeast in warm water, then mix it with the flour and let the dough rest for 1 hour. Add to the dough 70 gr of pork lard, egg, sugar, vanilla extract, nutmeg, saffron and the orange zest. Work the mix very well for 10 minutes trying to get as much air as possible into the dough.
Roll out the dough until 2 cm in a rectangular shaped baking tray, which you previously greased with the pork lard. Let it rest for another 2 hours and then bake it in preheated oven at 150 C (300 F) for half an hour. Serve with powdered sugar once it is cold.
What’s your favorite Carnival sweet?
