2 cups flour
1/4 cup lard (e.g. Tenderflake)
1 1/4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 tablespoons white wine


Vegetable oil or lard for deep frying*
Icing sugar for dusting

* Prior to World War II olive oil was often used for deep frying in Italy, but nowadays most North Americans of Italian origin use all-purpose vegetable oil; however, most cooks, Italian or otherwise, agree that canola oil or peanut oil is best for frying as these oils don't leave an aftertaste

Mix the sugar, salt and flour.

Cut the lard into small pieces and mix it with the flour.

Beat the egg.

Mix the white wine and egg together.

Combine the liquids to the flour mixture and work into a dough, kneading for about 5 minutes (Add more flour if it's too soft, add more wine if it's too hard).

Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in clear plastic and let it rest for about an hour at room temperature.

Using a pasta machine (or a rolling pin) roll out the rested dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch.

Using a pastry wheel cut the dough into rectangles -- 4 inches long and 1 1/2 wide (One can use a ruler as a guide, or one can make a home-made cookie cutter out of cardboard so that the strips will end up being uniform). The left-over dough can be remixed, rolled out and then cut.

Heat up the oil and fry the frappe a few at a time until they are golden (If they brown they will taste burnt).

Remove and place on kitchen paper towels to usurp extra oil.

Before serving dust with icing sugar.

These sweet fritters go by different names depending on the region where they are made. Apparently in Emilia they are called "frappe," in Genoa, "bugie," in Venice, "crostoli" and in Lombardy, "chiacchiere." These fritters also vary in size and shape depending on the region and/or personal preference of the individual cook. Obviously, there are many variations on the "frappe" recipe and dozens of them are available on the world-wide web. Some recipes make the dough with olive oil instead of lard, others call for vegetable oil. Some recipes recommend the fritters be fried in lard rather than vegetable oil, while others insist on olive oil. Using lard instead of vegetable oil makes the cookies a lot crispier and oddly enough, less "oily" (Well, that's my opinion). Even though "frappe" and "chiacchiere" are supposedly the same recipe (Just the name is different), nonetheless "chiacchiere" recipes generally call for much larger rectangles (about 6 inches by 2 inches) than the "frappe" ones; the "chiacchiere" recipes generally also ask that small cuts be made into the rectangles while the frappe recipes do not [See "chiacchiere" recipe in the category, "Fritters"]. That said, it seems that in some areas in Northern Italy these fritters are also presented as bows. So it seems anything goes unless, of course, your grandmother made them in in a certain way, and then no other way seems quite right. In any case "frappe" or "chiacchiere" are generally known as "Carnival fritters" because they used to be made for Carnival festivities. Nowadays those who like them make them whenever the mood strikes. Actually, they're quite easy to like, especially if they're fresh (They're best on the same day). And they're incredibly easy to do. Photo: Mary Melfi.

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