Ingredients
For taralli dough [makes 2 Caroselli]
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups flour (Might need about 1/8 cup more of flour, depending on the size of the eggs)
6 large eggs
For Decoration
2 hard boiled eggs
For Egg Wash
Yolk of 1 Egg, beaten
Directions
o Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
o Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix sugar and eggs.
o Add oil. Mix well.
o Add flour a little at a time (preferably by hand) until you have a soft but malleable dough (It should resemble a "cavatelli" dough). Over-kneading (e.g., with an electric blender) does more harm than good.
o Flour the wooden board on which the taralli dough will be worked on.
o Divide the dough into 2 parts, plus leave a little dough to make the tiny ropes with which to strap the boiled egg to the carosello [The straps are missing in the photo shown on this entry -- an oversight].
o Roll out the first part into 3 long taralli-style ropes -- about 23 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter.
o Connect the tops of the 3 ropes, then braid them.
o Pinch the ends together. The resulting carosello should be the size of a medium-sized dinner plate (about 8 inches in diameter).
o Attach the hard boiled egg to the carosello. Make tiny taralli-style ropes out of the extra dough, and criss-cross them over the egg.
o Brush the top of the carosello as well as the boiled egg with the egg yolk.
o Repeat the steps for the other half of the dough.
o Place the two caroselli in the oven directly on the middle rack (a cookie sheet is not necessary).
o Cook until golden brown -- about 20 minutes.
Notes
In Casacalenda, Molise, the carosello was given to young boys as gifts (Girls were given "pupatta" -- doll-shaped Easter cookies). The cookies were given on Easter Sunday, but they were actually supposed to be eaten on Easter Monday when families went to the countryside and there had picnics.... Some home cooks made this Easter treat with sweet taralli dough, others used "pasticcino" dough [See Carosello, Version II]. Photo: Mary Melfi. |
