Recipe: Crispelli - 3 Recipes (Italian fried dough with raisins)

CRISPELLI DI NATALE
(Christmas fritters, with yeast, raisins and topped with table sugar)
Originated from: Ripi, Frosinone, Lazio
Occasion: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Contributed by: Pierina Faustini
Source: Italy Revisted.com

About 1 kilo flour (or a touch less)
1 tablespoon salt
1 bag of traditional dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup raisins
1 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar (to proof the yeast)
Hot water (as much as is needed to make a soft malleable dough)
Vegetable oil (for deep frying)
Table sugar (for garnish)
Cocoa powder (optional, for garnish)

Mix ingredients and work into a soft malleable dough (Should be soft enough so it can be stretched into columns of dough, but it shouldn't be so soft that it looks like a batter). Form the dough into a ball and let it rest for a few hours or until it doubles in size.

One can either take a chunk of dough and stretch it out so that it is about six inches long, or one can take a chunk of dough and make a hole in it so that the end result looks like a donut.

Fry the dough in hot oil until golden. Remove and place on kitchen paper towels to usurp excess oil.

If the crispelli are served immediately sprinkle some table sugar on them and serve them warm; if they are to be served later, do not sprinkle the sugar. Place them in the fridge and re-heat them in a moderate oven before serving. Add the table sugar before serving when they are warm. The crispelli can also be served at room temperature. (Cocoa powder can also be used as garnish.)

NOTES:
"Pierina notes that when her mother was growing up in Ripi in the 1930s these fritters were made for Christmas Eve, and whatever was left over (if anything was left over) was served on Christmas Day. They were not served any other time of the year. Different households in the town had various ways of presenting these fritters -- in her father's household the fritters were shaped like donuts, but in her mother's household they were presented as columns. However, everyone in her town included raisins in the yeast dough unlike in other parts of Italy, such as in Molise, where their columns of fried dough were called "screppelle"...."

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ST. JOSEPH CRISPELLI
Source: Cooks.com

6 eggs
1 pint milk
1 cup sugar
Less than 1/2 pkg yeast
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
Raisins (less than a box)
Flour (as needed)
Powdered sugar (optional)

In a large bowl mix ingredients all together. Add flour, as much as needed to make a thick batter.

Drop by spoonful in hot oil and fry until golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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GRANDMA'S ROMAN ZEPPOLE VERSION
(with honey she called them Crispelles)
Source: What's Cookin Italian Style Cuisine, 3/19/11

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 cups flour
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup raisins (soaked in Brandy till plump)
Canola oil, for deep-frying (she used vegetable oil)
Honey (preferred) or confectioner's sugar

Mix dry yeast with warm water in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, add flour, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the flour with a wooden spoon, and add the eggs, water, and yeast. Mix dry ingredients into well, little by little, until it reaches bread dough consistency (if the dough still sticks to the bowl, add more flour). If using raisins drain, and fold in this point. Cover and let rise until double in bulk.

In a Dutch oven, pour oil to a depth of 2 inches and heat to 375 degrees F. Fry dough by the tablespoonful in hot oil (dip spoon in flour, if necessary, to keep dough from sticking). Drain on paper towels.

Place zeppole in large bowl and pour honey (grandma's style) or powdered sugar over them.