Abruzzo's Carnival sweet: small balls of egg, oil and flour dough, about a centimetre across, deep-fried until golden and bound while hot in boiling honey, then heaped into a ring that sets solid as it cools, often studded with toasted almonds and coloured sprinkles. A close cousin of Neapolitan struffoli, it is a shared PAT of Abruzzo, the Marche and Molise, and takes its name from the cicerchia grass-pea, whose small round seeds the fried pellets recall.
Cicerchiata belongs to Carnival, made and eaten in the days before Lent. Its name means a heap of cicerchie, likening the little fried balls to the round seeds of the cicerchia, the grass-pea the Romans called cicerula. The Abruzzo region's atlas of traditional products traces its origin to the Sangro and Aventino valleys, where a strong tradition of beekeeping kept good honey always at hand. Long a communal task for the women of a household, it was by local custom once given by the bride-to-be's family to the groom's at Carnival. Related to the Neapolitan struffoli but with smaller pellets, it is listed as a PAT of Abruzzo, the Marche and Molise.
The little balls stay crisp at the edges and tender within, and the cooled honey binds them into one crackly, chewy mass that pulls apart in sticky clumps; it is intensely sweet and floral with honey, cut by the toasted crunch of almonds and the faint richness of the fried dough.
Deep-frying drives water from the dough as steam, so the surface dries and browns by the Maillard reaction while the inside stays soft; the egg and oil in the dough give a tender, short crumb rather than a bready one. The binding is pure sugar chemistry: honey is a supersaturated solution of fructose and glucose, and heating thins it to a coating syrup, but as it cools its viscosity climbs steeply and the sugars, with too little water to dissolve them, set into a hard, sticky cement that glues the balls into a self-supporting ring. Because the fried balls are dry, they stay crisp under the honey for a while before slowly softening as they take up its moisture.
Variations
Some cooks flavour the dough with lemon or orange zest, a splash of anise liqueur or white wine; the almonds may be left out or swapped for candied peel, and modern versions finish with coloured sprinkles or a dusting of cocoa. The classic form is a ring or crown, but the honeyed balls are also mounded into a dome, exactly as Naples shapes its struffoli.
On the Palate
Where Cicerchiata sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 115 min
Work the flour with the eggs, olive oil, sugar and lemon zest into a smooth, firm dough, then let it rest for about half an hour.
- 218 min
Roll the dough into thin ropes and cut them into small pieces, rolling each into a ball about a centimetre across.
- 315 min
Deep-fry the balls in oil at about 170°C, in batches, until golden and puffed, then drain them well on paper.
Watch outFry the dough balls to golden and puffed at about 170°C — too cool and they soak up oil and go soggy, too hot and they brown before the inside sets.
- 44 min
Warm the honey in a wide pan over low heat until it is fluid and just beginning to bubble, without letting it darken.
Watch outWarm the honey only until fluid and just bubbling — let it darken and it turns to hard toffee that won't coat, and tastes burnt.
- 53 min
Take the pan off the heat, tip in the fried balls and the toasted almonds, and turn them until every ball is glossed with honey.
- 65 min
Tip the mixture onto a plate and, with oiled or wetted hands, quickly shape it into a ring or crown while it is still hot.
Watch outShape the ring fast with wet hands while it's hot — once the honey cools it sets rock-hard and can't be moved.
- 740 min
Scatter coloured sprinkles over the top and leave it to cool completely, so the honey sets and cements the ring solid.
