Fritole alla Veneziana

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Rome meets Venice. The tale goes that men in Rome would give their brides-to-be a large sugar-dusted maritozzo containing a ring. We liked the story so much that we combined the maritozzo with a classic Venetian fritter to create this dessert, perfect with a grappa and an espresso.

Ingredients

100 g raisins
½ cup dark rum
500 g flour
80 g sugar
15 g yeast
1 orange, zested
a pinch salt
2 free-range eggs, beaten
1 cup milk, warmed
40 g pine nuts
sunflower oil, for frying
icing sugar, for dusting
For the filling:
2 cups cream
3 T icing sugar
2 t vanilla paste

Cooking Instructions

1. Soak the raisins in the rum for at least an hour. Place the flour, sugar, yeast, orange zest and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and make a well in the centre.

2. Break the eggs into the well and gently combine using a fork, then add the milk, raisins and pine nuts and mix using the dough hook until a sticky dough forms. Allow to prove until doubled in size and bubbly in texture.

3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Using a tablespoon, scoop the mixture into the oil, fry until golden and drain on kitchen paper. Work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan.

4. Cool, then cut in half making sure the top half is thinner than the bottom so that the cream doesn’t flatten too much.

5. To make the filling, whip the cream with the sugar and vanilla until thick, then spoon into a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle. Pipe the cream onto each base, sandwich with the tops and dust with icing sugar.

Find more Italian recipes here.

Photograph: Jan Ras
Production: Abigail Donnelly
Food assistant: Bianca Strydom