On Christmas Eve all the cooking was done in the downstairs kitchen. My grand mother would make a large batch of dough infused with a healthy amount of dry white wine. These were then formed by hand into primitive shaped doughnuts and deep fried until they were golden brown. They would be retrieved from the oil with a stick that poked through the...On Christmas Eve all the cooking was done in the downstairs kitchen. My grand mother would make a large batch of dough infused with a healthy amount of dry white wine. These were then formed by hand into primitive shaped doughnuts and deep fried until they were golden brown. They would be retrieved from the oil with a stick that poked through the hole and many could be removed at a time. They would be dropped into brown paper bags to absorb the oil. These doughnut like things were referred to as Crispelle. These hot doughy concoctions were absolutely addicting, Nonna actually would make 2 bushel baskets of these things. Often they lasted throughout my Christmas vacation and would eventually dry up, but that didn't stop us from reheating them, or breaking them up to put in soup, or just challenging ourselves to munch through the hardened but nutty flavored dough. Show more

when making pepper taralli my mom would add fennel seed along with the black pepper.