Ingredients
For (sweet taralli) dough: [makes 3 large cookies]
3 cups of flour*
6 large eggs
6 tablespoons of olive oil*
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of Magic baking powder
For decoration:
2 egg yolks for brushing
3 cooked hard-boiled small eggs in their shells
Multi-colored sprinkles
*Measurement is approximate
Directions
Mix flour, sugar, eggs, melted lard, baking powder and work into a cookie dough (If the dough is too soft add more flour, if it's too hard add more lard).
Shape the dough into ball, lightly flour it, wrap it with clear plastic and then let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
On a floured wooden board make three large taralli-style logs and one small one. Make the three larger logs about to 20 inches long and about 1/2 inch thick.
Braid the three logs, leaving ample space between the logs as the dough will thicken in the oven. Wrap the braided log around itself and pinch the ends together. The resulting caroselle should be the size of a pasta plate.
Add a hard-boiled egg (still in its shell) to the braided log, attaching the egg with tiny dough-strings made from the fourth dough portion.
Brush the top of the braided log with egg yolk (including the hard-boiled egg).
Add multi-colored sprinkles to the braided log and to the hard-boiled egg.
Make another caroselle with the remaining dough. Repeat the steps.
Place the decorated braided logs on cookie sheets that have been greased (or have silicon-based baking mats over them).*
Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the dough is golden (if it turns brown it will taste burnt).
Serve at room temperature.
**For best results use aluminum cookie sheets that are sold in "Dollar Shops" [e.g. "Titan Foil"] and then place silicon-based baking mats [e.g. Professional Bakeware's thick red-colored ones sold at Canadian Tire] on top of them. These cheaper aluminum cookie sheets do not conduct heat as well as the more expensive cookie sheets available in specialty shops which surprisingly is a good thing. In aluminum cookware the bottoms of the cookies don't cook faster than the tops, resulting in more evenly-cooked cookies (No burnt cookie bottoms!).
Notes
In Casacalenda, Molise, the braided Easter log was generally presented in a circular or coiled shape and given to young boys as gifts (Girls were given "pupatta" 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.... My father insists that his mother, my Nonna Assunta, made the "carosello" with sweet taralli dough. In his eyes the carosello is a taralli with a boiled egg attached to it. My aunt, Zia Rosina, however, who grew up in the same town as my father, says that her mother made the Easter treats with cookie dough. Obviously, different households used different recipes. Photo: Mary Melfi. |
