SFINGI DI CONCETTA
Excitement, we’re cooking Sfingi today and the kids are already hyped up like they‘ve eaten a bowl of sugar. Cooking up some love, Carina is learning to cook with Nonna and Daddy.
I watch them giggling and adding a bit of this and a bit of that. They whip up the mixture in no time and without weighting or measuring any of the ingredients.
My mother in law Concetta came to Australia from the island of Salina in Sicily when she was only a girl not much older than Carina.
It was her mother who taught her the recipe in much the same way. What is added to this recipe today is passion for good food and the connection between four generations.
So it seems there are as many ways to make Sfingi as there are Italians.
My mother in law makes Sfingi with sultanas, of course my daughter thinks it’s a great idea to make them with chocolate chips.
It just depends on how you were taught and where you were born, the basic batter mixture remains roughly the same.
Each one has a different shape (just like clouds) and our children love looking for ones shaped like dinosaurs, sea horses, dragons, dogs, spiders or what ever the imagination comes up with. They are best eaten piping hot…
Buon Appetito
Ingredients:
5 cups plain flour
2 – 3 teaspoons yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 – 3 cups water
1 pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Preparation:
- Mix all ingredients until blended.
- Cover and leave mixture to rise for approx 30 minutes
- Pour oil to depth of 2 to 3 inches into pan; heat over medium flame.
- Drop batter by tablespoons in hot, deep oil.
- If oil is hot enough, sfingi will cook and turn over without help.
- Fry until golden brown.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Combine powdered sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll warm sfingi in powdered sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- Best served warm!
Thank you for posting this recipe. My grandmother and Mom made sfingi for every Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It was such a special event for us. I now carry on the tradition with my daughter. I can taste and smell them just by looking at your recipe! Can’t wait for the holidays!! Great memories.
Ciao Toni, my husband likes to make them and our kids LOVE them, they’re a big favorite in our house.
hope your Christmas is filled with sfingi xx lisa
Do you use dry yeast or fresh?
My husband Sam who does all the cooking uses a packet yeast…. hope that helps x
Do you use the 1 cup of sugar mentioned after the sfingi are fried?
Yes that’s right, to roll them in just before popping them in your mouth….my MIL adds cinnamon as well to the sugar xx lisa
My dearest mamma Concettina from Lipari use to make these sfinci using the same recipe. I use to watch her make them every week as a child and enjoyec eating them too. She passed away 22 years ago and I have always admired her yummy sfinci buf never new the exact recipe as she never wrote it down. I tried your recipe and fried thrm in Rice Oil which made them dark in color. My m I thers sfiici were the same in colour as yours. I knew mym would always use olive oil Coppa D’oro brand. Which oil do you recommend for your sfinci. Grazie Anna-Maria xx
5 cups of flour to 2/3 cup of water seems a very dry mix
LOL well spotted, yep a very dry mix indeed….thanks for letting me know and all fixed Daniela xx
Thanks. Yeah i was trying to make them for a lady i care whose from lipari and the mix was very dry. But i played with it for.a.bit til i got a good consistency. Anyhow, this recipe made a 90 yr old lady who hadnt had a sfinci in nearly 40 years VERY HAPPY. Thanks heaps.
What a wonderful thing to share, thank you so much and I’m glad the lady liked them and they bought her back some memories. My mother in law was born on Salina and she makes them for our kids all the time. In fact she made a batch yeserday for our daughters birthday party…..they were a big hit !!! much love lisa and the gang x
can egg be left out
HI Angela, Never tried to make it without egg but had a look on Google for egg replacement and there are a few so may give it a try next time… thanks Sam
I was excited to see your picture. My mother-in-law, who was from Bari, would make a similar recipe for Christmas Eve., she called them E’fritta. We would eat what was left over on Christmas morning, sprinkled with powdered sugar and an orange salad ; orange slices, crushed red pepper and a drizzle of EVOO. So many variations from various Italian families. Ciao
Oh that’s wonderful Patricia, they are a big favorite in our family and my mother in law changes the recipe depending on what she has and her mood. Now our daughter Carina makes them with Daddy, I love to know the tradition is being passed on x
Thank you so much for the Sfingi recipe.
I have childhood memories of my Nonna serving these up in her kitchen & how exciting it was when she did. Sometimes she would make them with a sweet sticky syrup. Delicious! I have asked all my relatives if they know how to make these but not one has the original recipe.
My Nonna also came from the island of Salina as a young girl, perhaps this is the same recipe.
I cant wait to serve these up to my children and tell them stories about their Nonna and great Nonna. Thank you!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe;
I cooked a batch of Sfingi tonight and they were a great success 🙂
My kids loved them, I will have to make another batch on the weekend, might try the sultanas soaked in liquor.
Grazie Mille…
How wonderful Sandro, my mother in law will be very happy to know her recipe worked. We always like to see what the sfingi look like, always mysterious creatures of our imagination. The sultana’s sound fantastic x
My mother taught me to make something a bit like this, but without the cinnamon and the sultanas are soaked in Grappa from Veneto. They are called Frittole and are just like little pillows that you describe mmm delicious! It is great to transfer recipes like this from one generation to the next
Yum I’d like to try them soaked in Grappa!
ciao lisa