Yes, maybe this Le Marche recipe about traditional Carnival pastries called “Limoncini” could be a challenge level for cooking beginners … but we are talking about my favourite Carnival cakes, so they deserve at least a try 🙂
Yes, I also admit that most part of these pretty Limoncini did not survive the afternoon…(malefic laugh!)
And yes, cooking with a perfectionist-burners-queen as my grandmother, Tina (whose hands you see in photos) make me earn a 1000 points’ bonus … that I lost when I almost forgot to add butter! No panic: I discovered you can successfully incorporare it with a little hint of flour also at the end of the dough.
But, you know what? I completed the level and the result was fantastic 🙂
This oranges and lemons pastries (“Limoncini” comes from “lemon”) are fried in the traditional recipe, but I prefer them baked. The recipe and process stay the same so…try both ways and choose your favourite cooking!
Ingredients: 2 eggs, approximately 600 gr flour (the precise quantity depends on dough’s consistance, it must stay soft), 50 gr brewer’s yeast, 50 gr butter, 1 glass of milk, 1 spoon of sugar.
for the filling: approximately 150 gr sugar (as much as you like the pastries to be sweet, but enough to cover the rolled dough), 2 oranges, 1 lemon (if you prefer lemons you can use 2 lemons and 1 orange, or no lemon at all…it’s up to you!)
Preparation:
Start melting butter for a few minutes at low flame. In the meanwhile, warm up the milk (it has to be lukewarm not too hot) and then add the yeast in order to melt it.
In a bowl beat the eggs with a fork, and then add sugar, the glass with milk and yeast, and the melted butter too.
Keep beating and then start adding flour a bit at a time.
As you keep putting flour, the dough becomes more dense and when it’s solid enough, you can start knead it on a wooden board.
From now on, be careful when adding flour, because the dough should remain as soft as possible to have fluffy limoncini 🙂 especially if you decide to bake them.
When you (finally!) have a soft and uniform dough, leave it on the board for 10 minutes: it needs to rest and rise! Shhhhh!
In the meanwhile you can start preparing the filling by mixing with a fork sugar, grated orange and lemon peel.
Cover with paper two baking trays and start the oven at approximately 170°.
Now you are ready to knead the dough! Put a hint of flour on the board, take your rolling pin and divide the mass in 2 parts.
Knead 2 rectangular shapes, then start spread the filling homogeneously but leaving 1 cm from external borders.
Now it’s time to roll them up starting from the longer side (at this stage if you haven’t put flour before kneading, it could be all sticked on the board!).
Remember to press the roll a little bit and close carefully the final part by sticking the dough or the tiny rolls may open while cooking!
Now you just need to cut the tiny rolls: if the dough is soft, every 2 or 3 cuts immerse the knife into the flour so it will not stick on the dough. Put them on the baking tray and then straight into the oven for 15 minutes till they become golden (not too much otherwise they will be hard after cooling down).
Happy Carnival from Le Marche by grandma Tina & thepicuspost °v°
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