Fritti di Latte, milk fritters are the ultimate comfort food whatever the season, served warm against the chill or cold on a hot summer’s day when they slip down particularly well! They are the first thing that my little boy asks for when we arrive back in Abruzzo.
Traditionally served in Nothern Teramo, my first taste of them was courtesy of my neighbour Italia who used to frequently cook these delicious treats for her grandchildren and drop some off to us on the way!
Fritti di Latte is often served at Christmas as an alternative treat for the under 5s to the caggionetti that the adults are polishing off! In one local restaurant, we’ve also had fritti di latte served as antipasti, when they acted as a delicate silky light base for assorted wild mushrooms that were balanced on top, only lacking the sugar; the cinnamon and lemon flavours worked so well with the meaty like Autumn fungi. A blinder of a reinvention of this formerly sweet dish, I have to say it’s now one of my favourite Autumn antipasti dishes it worked that well.
It’s difficult finding a true history of these fried milk fritters, they are in substance a very Roman sort of sweet that you can imagine being made with honey; there are stories of monks bringing variants of this into Northern Italy, there is something similar across in Ascoli in Le Marche with fried cream, and in Sicily where they are thickly coated in breadcrumbs, over in Spain too. Delectable treats that are far too moreish for anytime of the year!
Fritte di Latte
Ingredients
- 500 ml Whole Milk
- 150 g Plain Flour or 00 Flour
- 200 g Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
- 3 Egg yolks
- Fine Bread Crumbs
- 1 Lemon Zest
- 1 Cinnamon Stick or Cinnamon to taste
- Icing Sugar
- Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil
- 1 Beaten Egg
Instructions
- Mix egg yolks, lemon zest sugar and flour together in a bowl, there should be no lumps!
- Add milk into a pan and slowly warm with the cinnamon stick. Slowly whisk this mixture into your warming milk, ensure there are no lumps.
- On a very low heat, cook the mixture stirring constantly for 10 minutes until dense without any floppiness.
- Take an oiled marble or wooden chopping board and dollop the dough like milk onto the board. Smooth into the shape of a rectangle that is about 2 cm deep & leave to cool for at least 5 hours.
- Cut the cool dough into diamonds. Take each diamond, lightly dust each first into flour, then dip into a beaten egg and finally a quick and light dip into your superfine breadcrumbs.
- Heat some peanut oil and fry each rectangle individually, when golden on both sides they are done.
- Dust with a little icing sugar on top and serve warm or leave to cool for a summer treat.
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 11 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance travel and food web content manager and copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the co-founder of the social enterprises: The Abruzzo Blogger Community and Let's Blog Abruzzo. She is currently writing the book 'Abruzzo: Folk and Food.