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 (sometimes known as "rosacatarre"), 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 Mbeptielle Moisani/ Pepatelli/Pappatill, biscotti made with almonds and honey, flavored with pepper and orange zest
[for recipe see Italy Revisited/Cookies with Nuts]
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 Pepatelli/Pappatill or Mbeptielle Molisani, biscotti made with almonds and honey, flavored with pepper and orange zest
[for recipe see Italy Revisited/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 that are rose-shaped; in some areas of Molise "caragnoli" and "rosacatarle" are one in the same, "caragnoli" being both bow-shaped and rose-shaped; in other areas of Molise "rosacatarre" refers to "rose-shaped" and "caragnoli" to bow-shaped [for a variety of recipes see Italy Revisited/Fritters]
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. For personal notes on Molisani Christmas fritters see Italy Revisited/Fritters -- "Caragnoli, Version I," "Caragnoli, Version II," "Rosina's Caragnoli" and "Scrippelle or Screppelle, Version I." |
