Chiacchiere are thin, crisp Italian fried pastries made from a simple dough of flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and a splash of grappa or white wine, rolled to near-translucency, cut into irregular rectangles or strips with a fluted pastry wheel, and dropped into hot oil until they puff and blister and turn the color of pale […]

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Zeppole are Italian fried dough pastries — rounds of choux or yeasted dough, deep-fried until puffed and golden, and finished with powdered sugar, pastry cream, or both. The texture depends on the dough: choux-based zeppole are light and hollow, crisping at the edges and collapsing slightly when you bite in; yeasted versions are denser, chewier, […]

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