Fritule (Istarske Fritule, Fritulice)

Fritule, once a festivity pastry, today a classic everyday Croatian dessert, comes in different versions.

These sweet mini fritters are one of the symbols of Croatian cuisine. The Istrian Fritule represents the classic yeast dough version (similar to Venetian frittelle); the proof dough is shaped into small oval shapes with a spoon and immediately put in the hot oil. Once they're fried, the heavenly Fritule, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, gets sprinkled with sugar and lots of love.

Ingredients for Fritule:

• flour / farina / Mehl
• eggs / uova / Eier
• sugar / zucchero / Zucker
• milk / latte / Milch
• rakija / grappa / schnapps
• raisins / uvetta / Rosinen
• butter or oil / burro o olio / Butter oder Öl
• yeast / lievito / Hefe
• lemon peel / scorza di limone / Zitronenschale
• salt / sale / Salz

Recipe for preparation: Fritule

Ingredients:

• 500 g flour
• 2 eggs
• 50 g sugar
• 1 bag of vanilla sugar
• 1,5 – 2 dl milk
• 0,5 dl schnapps (rakija)
• 80 g raisins
• 20 g butter or oil
• 20 g yeast
• lemon peel
• a bit of salt
• oil for frying
• powdered sugar

The first step is to pour the lukewarm milk into a cup or a bowl and add yeast and sugar. Mix that up, leave it in a warm place, and let it rise. Now let's make a mess in the kitchen. Sift flour in another bowl, add eggs, yolks, salt, sugar, raisins, melted butter (or oil), schnaps/brandy (or rakija if you bought a souvenir for home), and grated lemon zest. Once raised, the yeast can join other ingredients but make sure you mix the dough with a wooden spoon in this. When the dough is soft enough, let it rest for 30 minutes. Now comes the fun part. With a spoon, take a small piece of dough and put it into the hot oil. Fry fritule and turn them from all sides. Once brownish, place them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Serve fritule on a nice plate and dust them with powdered sugar.