Also known as “carteddate” or “nèvole,” depending on the area, these nests of fried dough are made with simple ingredients, but require a long and laborious preparation process. It takes quite a few hands and just as much time to craft a kilo of cartellate. And often the chatter of grandmothers, mothers, daughters, and aunts serves as the backdrop of a tradition that’s practiced every year, as soon as the Christmas season begins.
The heart and soul of Puglia
A typical Puglian sweet, cartellate are an absolute staple on Christmas Day. Delectable to adults and children alike, this dessert isn’t easy to make. It requires a lot of patience and technique. But the astonishment of your guests when they take their first bite will make up for all of the time and effort!
Cartellate: sweets with a long history
According to some sources, cartellate date back thousands of years. A cave painting from the sixth century BC, found near Bari, depicts the preparation of sweets very similar to these, probably of Greek origin, made as votive offerings to the gods. But there are no absolute certainties regarding the name: cartellata may derive from the onomatopoeic incartellare, which in dialect means “to wrap up,” referring to the arabesque shape of the sweet. Others, on the other hand, claim that it is linked to the Greek word “κάρταλλος” (kartallos), which means “basket.” And while there are many doubts regarding their origin, one thing is for sure: cartellate are so addictively good that you can’t just eat one!
Lots of time and even more work
The start of the recipe isn’t all that complicated. With a base of flour, oil, and white wine, the dough is left to rest for about a half hour once it reaches an elastic consistency. Then the fun begins. The dough is rolled out into thin sheets (about 1 mm thick) and then cut into strips with a pastry wheel. And this is where the housewives’ manual dexterity comes into play. Each strip, measuring about 1 1/2 inches wide and 1 foot long, must be folded in two and pinched every inch and a half in order to form little hollows, which are essential for collecting all the vincotto or honey later on. Once this is done, the strips are rolled up around themselves to form a sort of rose shape. After shaping the cartellate, the ideal thing is to place them on trays and let them rest overnight covered with cotton towels. In order to taste them in all their glory, two fundamental steps remain. The first is frying them in very hot oil. The second is dunking the fried sweets in a vincotto made of Puglian grape must (Negroamaro or Malvasia) or figs, or in honey, depending on the family’s tradition. And for the final touch, a dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon. Those with a real sweet tooth can also add chocolate or chopped almonds.