A Special Christmas Dessert – Cartellate Recipe

Guido Pedrelli

by Published: Last updated:

Guido Pedrelli
Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
Expertise: Italian cuisine, Pasta, Pizza, Pastry, Dessert

Jump to Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

What are cartellate?

Table of Contents hide
What are cartellate?
The history of cartellate and the origin of their name
Cartellate al vincotto

Cartellate are a typical Christmas and party dessert of Apulian cuisine. They are prepared with a very simple base of flour, sugar, extra-virgin olive oil, and white wine, then fried and immersed in a special syrup such as vincotto, which can be made out of figs or grapes depending on the area.

cartellate Italian dessert
cartellate Italian dessert

The history of cartellate and the origin of their name

In the Christian tradition, cartellate represent the halo or the bands that wrapped the child Jesus in the manger, but also the crown of thorns at the time of the Crucifixion. Similar sweets are also produced in Calabria, where they are called nèvole or crispelle, and in Basilicata, where they are called roses or crispedde.

A very similar dessert called lanxsatura was first depicted in a sixth-century BC rock painting near Bari. The filled dish was offered to the gods according to the cult of Ceres, probably of Greek origin, and associated with offerings made to Demeter, goddess of the earth, during the Eleusinian mysteries. 

At the dawn of Christianity, these ritual pancakes were transformed into gifts to the Madonna, cooked to invoke her intervention for the success of the crops. 

The preparation of this dessert is not very simple, but we guarantee that the final result will be sensational. Here is our recipe for the delicious cartellate al vincotto.

cartellate recipe Italian dessert

Try other Italian Christmas dessert recipes:

cartellate Italian dessert

Cartellate al vincotto

A deep-fried italian dessert with a special syrup from apulia. It’s a Christmas dessert that every family views as a must-have dessert for special occasions.
4.10 from 33 votes
Print Pin Rate Save Recipe
Course: Dessert
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 5 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 10 cartellate
Calories: 193kcal
Author: Guido Pedrelli

Ingredients

  • 370 grams (2.96 cups) flour
  • 60 milliliters (4.06 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
  • 100 milliliters (6.76 tbsp) dry white wine aniseed liqueur, or orange liqueur
  • 8 grams (2 tsp) baking powder
  • 3 grams (0.5 tsp) salt
  • 3 grams (0.75 tsp) sugar
  • extra-virgin olive oil for frying
  • orange peel
  • vincotto of figs or honey

Instructions

  • In a saucepan, heat the oil and orange peel over low heat. Do not let it fry. Remove the orange peels after a few minutes.
  • Place the flour on a flat surface, pile the flour into a mound. Make a well in the center of the mound and slowly add the lukewarm oil. Mix.
  • Form a nice uniform and homogeneous ball by carefully working the flour and oil together.
  • Separately, dissolve the baking powder in the wine in a bowl. Slowly incorporate the wine into the flour, then add the sugar and finally the salt. Work everything well in order to obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough.
  • Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • After resting, divide the dough in half and begin flattening the dough into thin layers.
  • Roll out the dough until it is very thin with the help of a pasta machine, starting with the thickest setting. Roll out the dough several times. Change the thickness by gradually bringing the wheel of the machine to the penultimate notch.
  • Use a serrated wheel to cut strips of about 25 cm by 4 cm. Then fold each strip lengthwise and form small pockets by pinching the dough together at regular intervals.
  • Roll each strip into a rosette, pinching the edges to help it hold together.
  • Let the cartellate rest on parchment paper overnight, or at least 5 hours.

Frying

  • Heat olive oil in a deep pan until it sizzles.
  • Place the cartellate in the pan and fry them until slightly golden.
  • While you are frying, heat some honey or your vincotto in a double boiler.
  • When you have fried the cartellate, pat them on paper towels to blot excess oil.
  • Dip the cartellate in the hot honey or vincotto on both sides, so as to cover the cartellate well.
  • Serve the cartellate on a tray.
Serving: 100g | Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 118mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.5g | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg
Liked this recipe?Follow us NonnaBox for more!

5 Responses to “A Special Christmas Dessert – Cartellate Recipe”

  1. Elizabeth M Fortunato says:
    December 18, 2021 at 2:26 pm

    Recipe calls for baking powder in the list of ingredients, but yeast in the recipe. Which is it? If it’s yeast how much?

    Reply
  2. wonderful cook says:
    November 30, 2022 at 6:33 pm

    This looks so yummy. I’m gonna give it a try this Christmas. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  3. Toni says:
    March 26, 2023 at 10:44 am

    Looks great but can you c onvert to cups, tablespoons, etc, I cannot follow metric

    Reply

Leave a Reply