Calabrese Turdilli
Calabrese Turdilli
Making Calabrese Turdilli is a special tradition for our house; I thrive on keeping my Italian family together. My nonna Emilia once told me that “we come from a long line of strong women who struggled to survive”, and this keeps me going even on hard days. Nilde, 84, heads this project; over joyed with her recipes, she takes much pride in cooking.
Mom grew up in a very poor southern Italian community, but she didn’t know she was poor. Everyone in her community had little material goods, but they were rich in spirit and kindness. Most Christmas cookies had simple ingredients and came together easily. They also had to be stored easily as refrigeration was limited.
Our ancestors were very resourceful people, making feasts from the few ingredients they had at home.
WE Place the dough onto the counter and knead it.
The dough comes together easily.
Mom rolls out cords about 3/4 inch thick and then cuts into 1 inch pieces.
The little pieces now need ridges to soak up the honey or icing sugar.
She puts them on a clean cotton kitchen towel.
Here they are in the oil and like magic they turn on their own.
Go to my Facebook Page Recipes at my table to watch the video.
Calabrese Turdilli
Calabrese Turdilli are the traditional Southern Italian cookies for Christmas.
Ingredients
- 12 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- 6 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 cup Anice or Sambuca
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 6 3/4 cups flour
Instructions
-
Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat with a spatula.
Add the oil and Anice to the eggs and beat.
Continue by adding sugar and beating.
Add 2 cups of flour and the baking powder to the wet ingredients. Mix together until smooth.
Keep adding the flour one cup at a time and beating.
You might have to use a large wooden spoon now as the mixture is thick.
Once all the 6 3/4 cups of flour are added and the dough is smooth, sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour on the counter and turn dough onto counter.
Knead a few times. Dough should be smooth and pliable.
Set a large pot onto the stove top. Put in 3 litres of vegetable oil.
The heat should be on high.
Meanwhile roll out pieces of dough and make ropes that are about 3/4 of an inch thick.
Cut each rope into 1 inch pieces and make grooves into the pieces using a fork or a basket.
Make a test piece first, our tradition is that we make a cross. When the cross floats to the top and moves around, the oil is ready.
Place the turdilli in the pot one at a time.
Ensure that you add enough turdilli to the pot to fill the diameter, but not too close to each other. They need room to turn on their own.
The first batch takes about 10 minutes: consecutive batches took 6 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium/high after the first batch. The oil is now hot.
Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towels.
They may be stored in freezer once cooled.
What is especially noteworthy to me, besides being just wonderful cookies, is all the variations for ingredients and texture….roll the dough on baskets, washboards, forks and my family rolled the dough over a cheese grater.
Hi can i make half of this receipe would that work.thanks
I have made 6 eggs before. You should be able to cut everything in half. Making the full recipe is also good as they freeze well. When you are ready to eat them, take them out of the freezer and ice them.
Have a wonderful Christmas!!
My husband is from Cosenza and has started baking.he first tried someone else’s recipe with white wine, but no sugar, no baking powder, no anise. They were like eating horrible dough balls, even covered in honey or confectioner sugar. These are delicious! Just what he was looking for. I had him make me a few circle ones…..Italian doughnuts!
Barbara,
I am so happy that this recipe worked out for you. My mom and I made it several times to work out the exact measurements. Buon Natale e Felice anno nuovo to you and your husband.
Aha! I am so glad I found these COMMENTS by others who make these cookies! For years and years I have been searching online, and FINALLY (actually, about 3 years ago) the words “Scalilli/Scaliddi” and “turdilli/turdiddi” show up. I have found that with turdilli/turdiddi, EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE) has a different take on which “flavor” to use: sweet vermouth, Sambucca, Carlo Rossi Paisano, etc etc etc. And as far as the scalilli/scaliddi goes (which, by the way, means “scale” as in “ladder”) it depends on how you braid the dough. Then, with Biscotti Regina cookies, it depends on what you use for the flavor: orange zest with or without some juice, lemon zest with lemon juice, OR vanilla, OR Anisette, OR Anise OIL, OR Anise flavor – and then the comments commence with their differences, and always “THE ITALIAN WAY IS….” only to find “THE ITALIAN WAY IS… VARIED!!!!” I am so glad these holiday recipes are bursting into the scene, and I thank every single Italian family cook that has voiced their opinions, and shared their recipes so lovingly! We are truly “Paisanos”!!
I love this. Finally someone understands that our regional differences which make us all unique are at the heart of Italian cooking. ❤️ There are many ways to make each recipe, the point is we need to continue to circulate our traditions to our family and friends by sharing and cooking. Thanks so much for this insight. Buon Natale 🎄 e felice anno nuovo!!
So interesting that we call any of these cookies by the same names but the recipes have just a slight twist of them here is our version of the traditional Calabrese Turdilli
Turdilli
Ingredients:
– 3 ounces Olive oil
– 3 ounces Wine , Marisa used white moscato wine.
– 3 ounces sugar
– 1 large egg
– 1-2 ounce Anice forte , (this is 85 proof anisette)
– 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
– 1 pound Cake flour
Directions:
1. Put the sugar and all the liquids and eggs in a large bowl. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Add the liquid mixtures to the flour mixture gradually until you get a very loose dough that can be put on the table or board without running off.
2. Gradually mix in more flour until you achieve dough that is soft and workable on a floured board. Marisa Furgiuele said you must not make dough that is too stiff. Should be stiff enough to hold the ridges on the pieces. Hence start with flour on the short side since if you start with too much and the dough is too stiff there is nothing to do to “fix” it.
3. Cut a piece and roll into a rope not quite 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut into pieces of desired length. Roll on a basket to make ridges in the surface and have the piece fold onto itself.
4. Fry in hot vegetable oil (about 300 degrees). Too hot oil will cook the outside and leave the inside doughy and under cooked.
5. Coat in a large heated pot with boiling honey that you put about 1 to 2 ounces of the anice forte in before you start to heat.
Love sharing these recipes
When you break these open they are a purple color from the homemade wine
Thanks Susan. I love the variety of recipes from the different regions. We don’t add the wine, but some mom’s friends do and the taste varies. I hope people enjoy this recipe you shared. Happy Holidays!!
I saw the words, “turdilli” and “scalille” and was beside myself! I have been waiting to see the Calabrese versions of these fried pastries that I have loved since I was a little girl. My parents and grandparents came from Calabria, and so did my husband’s grandparents and parents. My mom’s family made them traditionally at Christmas and over the years relatives from both my mom and dad’s families made them at one another’s homes. What memories! My sister and her daughters, myself and my daughter, and 2 cousins try to get together at Christmastime to make the scalille, using a handwritten recipe from my mom. Loving memories to say the least😘
Aww, it always warms my heart to read these stories. I am very lucky to have watched my nonna make these
and now my mom is our matriarch. I posted some videos of the turdilli and scalille making on my
FaceBook. You can find me the Recipes At My Table. Calabria has many wonderful dishes.
For YEARS I have searched for this recipe. My Aunt Emma made these every Christmas but of course she couldn’t tell you the recipe because it was “some of this and some of that”. My families are from Cosenza, Calabria as well. My Aunt called these “dordilli” so no wonder I couldn’t find a recipe! My families settled in Ontario, Canada.
This makes me so happy. You can watch the video on Facebook. We are from a small town very close to Consenza. I hope you enjoy these and make new
memories with your family.
Hi – My family was from Cosenza in Southern Italy. My grandmother came to the US when she was sent for by my Grandfather who had left home at 13 and went to South America. Eventually, he ended up in Oregon. NaNa was in her 20’s probably in about 1912.
She made a cookie that I called Scallia which was deep-fried kind of shaped like figure 8 with a tail that came to the middle and she stored them in a crock. They were covered in honey. I never learned how to make them. It seems like she shaped them around the end of a wooden spoon.
Does that sound familiar to you – maybe from other readers?
Yes. We call them Scalille in Calabrese. I will be posting this recipe later in November. We are also from the Cosenza area. Nice to connect with other immigrants. I am sure your NaNa was a great cook!
Hello Renata,
I loved watching this video of you and your sister and mom.
This brought back memories of my mom making Turdilli Calabresi. Both my parents were from Calabria ( mom from cosenza dad from Casole e bruzzo).
I had a question which oil do you use in recipe.
Thank you so much for this video.
Nice to meet you Nina. It warms my heart to know that these recipes and stories will continue with other members of my family, friends and now those who read my blog.
We use vegetable or canola oil. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out.
My mom made these cookies for us throughout her life Only for Christmas! Your recipe brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for the memories
Aww, that’s why I share some of the traditional recipes. It’s important to remember our traditions.
My mother who was married to my Dad who was Calabrese got a recipe from his family for cookies made at Christmas that were similar to these but then put into a pot with lots of grape jam or jelly mixed with red wine and wisked the cookies around in this mixture and then put them on a plate. They were delicious and I wonder if you have ever heard of these or have a recipe for those cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My brother and I would love to have the recipe and the name of these Christmas cookies. Thank you for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Rose,
You may be thinking of the scallili recipe. These are round little fried cookies that we then traditionally dip in honey. The grape jab or jelly sounds yummy with the wine and that would also stick
to these cookies. I do have a recipe, but haven’t published it yet. When I make these cookies, I usually go the source, which is my mom. We have made them together, but now I have to work out the
measurements for everything. Keep enjoying your family traditions and recipes. Make sure you pass on the ones you have to family and friends. Thanks, and enjoy your day!!
Hi Renata. My mother-in-law made these delicious deep fried italian cookies…the diugh was rolled out on a washboard…formed, deep fried, then covered in honey! Yummy. Would you have a recipe for these?
Sounds like a version of our scallili. I don’t have that recipe up yet. Will work on it for Christmas.