Ingredients
For the Pastry Dough (Enough for about 30 Ravioli di San Giuseppe)
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour (or "as much as is needed")
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon salt
For filling:
1 can of chickpeas (19 oz)
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 small orange
Vegetable oil for frying
An egg beaten with a half a cup of water [to moisten the dough if it hardens]
Icing sugar for dusting
Directions
Mix the pastry dough ingredients and work into a fine dough (Add more flour if the dough is too soft, add a touch more water if it's too hard).
Shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in clear plastic.
Let the dough rest at room temperature while the filling is being made (about 1/2 an hour to an hour).
Place the chickpeas in a pan and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes in their own juice.
After the chick peas are cooked, drain them, and then put them in a blender or food mill until smooth (Or mash them by hand however best you can).
Combine the mashed-up chickpeas, ground walnuts, honey, sugar, cinnamon, salt and cocoa powder. Put aside.
Cut the rested dough into small portions.
Pass each portion through the pasta machine to the smallest number (keeping in mind that the faster one does this the better as the dough hardens, and then that makes it hard to make the cookies, as the dough will not stick together and/or it will crack).
Using a commercial cookie cutter or a glass cut out the rolled out dough into 3 inch circles.
Put about a teaspoon in the center of each circle [Too much stuffing will not only make it hard to seal the cookies, but the end result will not taste as good] and then fold over the dough (the resulting shape will look like a half moon).
Press the sides of each pastry pocket with a fork (If the dough has hardened one can moisten the edges of the pastry pocket dough with a beaten egg that has been mixed with half a cup of water).
After all the ravioli have been made, fry them in hot oil for about two and a half minutes or until they are golden (Turn them over in the oil if necessary).
Cool.
Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.
Notes
Traditional ravioli di San Giuseppe are shaped like half moons (and they may or may not include cocoa), but the modern-style of ravioli di San Giuseppe is to present them as squares. I believe "ravioli di San Giuseppe" and "caucini" recipes are more or less the same. In one area of Italy they go by one name, in another, the other. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if chickpea sweet fritters have hundreds of different names. Before World War II each little town in each little province had its own language (Forget dialect!). Many of the words that were used for everyday objects back then differed from town to town. But that's another story (Linguists can eat their heart out!).... Photo: Mary Melfi. |
