Fettarelle and Tisichelle
For many years, recipes for making traditional desserts have been passed down orally in families in Percile.
This oral tradition means that locals find it
somewhat difficult to explain the recipe and, above all, to quantify the ingredients, because
it is through observing expert hands at work and experimenting with the consistency
of the “right dough” that one can learn. Among the most popular traditional sweet biscuits in the
village are FETTARELLE, which, as the name suggests, are shaped like
small slices of golden bread, and TISICHELLE, which are round and flat and white in color
and, precisely because of their “pale and thin” appearance, take their name from the tuberculosis patients of the
past.
Fettarelle
Ingredients:
- 1 kg whole hazelnuts
- 6 eggs
- 800 g sugar
- zest of 2 lemons, grated
- 1 cup oil
- enough flour to keep the dough soft (1 kg or more)
Preparation:
Place all the ingredients on a work surface and mix them together, gradually adding
the flour until the dough becomes compact, not sticky but
soft. Shape the dough into loaves and bake them in the oven on a baking sheet
coated with oil or parchment paper at 150°C for about 30 minutes. Then
remove the loaves from the oven while they are still slightly soft, cut them into slices, and return them to the oven
until the slices are golden brown.
Tisichelle
Ingredients:
- 4 egg whites
- 300 g sugar
- 150 g flour
- a handful of anise seeds
Preparation:
Pour the egg whites into a bowl and beat them until stiff with a pinch of salt.
In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and anise seeds together well,
then gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth. Grease a
baking sheet with oil and sprinkle with flour, or line it with parchment paper, before spreading
the dough on top, spooning it out. Bake in the oven at 150°C for about 20
minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before serving.
