Ingredients
Traditional Christmas's Desserts from Molise (pre World War II)
o Calcioni [also spelled Caucini, calciumi, calciuni, caucioni or caveciune] a variety of pastry pocket-style sweets filled with chickpeas, cheese and other ingredients, generally made for The Feast Day of St. Joseph, but in some households were also made for the Christmas holidays [For recipes see category "Calconi"]
o Cancelle [sometimes spelled cangelle], thin waffle-like cookies, also known as osti and pizzelle [For recipe see "Cookies without Nuts"]
o Caragnole [singular], "caragnoli" [plural], [dialect] "caranjele"), bow-shaped or rose wheel-shaped pastry strips, Christmas and Carnival fritters -- bow-shaped or rose wheel-shaped pastry strips, Christmas and Carnival fritters................ Italian Wikipedia describes caragnoli as: "I caragnoli insieme alle rosacatarre, sono dolci tipici del basso Molise, preparati per le festivit? Natalizie e per Carnevale il cui impasto a base di farina, uova ed olio viene avvolto a forma di elica e fritto, quindi ricoperto di miele." [Machine translation, Google] I caragnoli along with rosacatarre, are typical of the low Molise, prepared for the festive Christmas and Carnival, whose dough made of flour, eggs and oil is wrapped in the shape of a helix and fried, then covered with honey.... [For recipe see "Italy/Revisited/Fritters"]
o Caveciune [also spelled Caucini, calciumi, calciuni, caucioni or caveciune] a variety of pastry pocket-style sweets filled with chickpeas, cheese and other ingredients [For recipes see category "Calconi"
o Cicerchiata, dough balls, dipped in honey, without yeast, Christmas fritters [For recipe see "Fritters"
o Mostaccioli, almond cookies made with honey, generally made for weddings but in some areas they were also made for the Christmas holidays [For recipe see "Cookies with Nuts"]
o Riso con il latte, rice pudding traditionally made for Christmas Eve, St. Joseph Eve and Good Friday
o Rosacatarle (Rosacatarre, rosacatarele), Christmas sweets dipped in honey [Italian Wikipedia]
o Scarulelle, rose-wheeled shaped fritters made in Santa Croce, Molise, identical to "caragnole" [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Screppelle, Scrippelle or Scrapelle [also known as "le scr'ppell' natalizie" ], long columns of fried dough [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Sugar-glazed and/or honey-glazed almonds [For recipe see "Cookies with Nuts"]
Directions
Notes
Prior to World War II households in Molise generally celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day with a variety of desserts, most of which (if not all) were fried. Actually, the variety was rather limited. Obviously, those households which were better off offered a wider variety of desserts to their guests, but even among the well-to-do fried dough was the dessert of choice. Neither cakes or cookies (except in certain areas of Molise) were prepared for the Christmas holidays (according to my mother anyway). Most households, including the poorest of the poor, made some style of sweet fritter for Christmas, but this was not the case for New Year's. Generally speaking, prior to World War II the desserts served on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Epiphany were more or less the same (at least this was case in Casacalenda, Molise). As previously noted, most desserts served in Molise and other areas of the South for the Christmas holidays were fried for the simple reason that few households (if any) had ovens (All they had were fireplaces!). Also, prior to World War II cookies and cakes were rarely made for the Christmas holidays in the South (Too expensive!). Cakes and cookies were reserved for weddings, baptisms, First Holy Communions and Confirmations. Apparently, to this day Southern Italians are not that fond of cakes -- why, it's hard to say.... Even though they did not make too many cakes, Southern Italians did make holiday breads. Prior to World War II the holiday breads were more like breads with a touch of sugar than the holiday breads sold in shops today that are often layered with cream. Nowadays, Northern Italy is world-famous for its holiday breads. They're now available throughout Europe and North America and not just around Easter, but year round. Italians, both from the North and the South, offer store-bought "panetonne" to guests on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but prior to World War II, "panetonne" was not on the menu. Well, it wasn't for subsistence farmers anyway. In Molise, holiday breads, including the world-famous "panetonne" was reserved for the Easter holidays..... |
