Grostoli

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 800 g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp lard or butter
• 4 tbsp spirit (cachaça, rum or grappa)
• 1 cup milk

Method

Cream the sugar and lard together until the mixture whitens and holds peaks when you lift the spoon — this takes 3–4 minutes by hand, less with a mixer. The air you're incorporating matters: it gives these pastries their open, tender crumb. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the spirit and milk alternately in three additions, stirring until each is fully combined before you add the next. The dough will look slack and wet at this stage — that's correct.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then fold into the wet mixture in two passes. Don't overwork it once the flour hits the liquid; a few streaks of dry ingredient left visible is better than overdeveloped gluten, which will make the fried ribbons tough rather than crisp. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky, like a enriched cake batter that just holds its shape.

Dust your work surface generously with flour. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each between two sheets of baking parchment to 3 mm thick — thin enough to fry through without burning the outside. Remove the parchment and cut the dough into rectangles roughly 10 cm × 5 cm. Make a single vertical slit down the centre of each rectangle, then twist the top half over itself once so the shape holds a loose spiral. This twist isn't decoration: it creates edges and surfaces that crisp differently during deep-frying, giving you contrast in texture.

Heat lard to 170°C — a fragment of dough should sizzle immediately on contact and float to the surface within 30 seconds. Fry the grostoli in batches; don't crowd the pan. They'll need 90 seconds per side to turn deep golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper whilst still hot. Dust immediately with confectionery|caster sugar and ground cinnamon — the heat will caramelise the sugar lightly and fuse it to the pastry. These keep for two days in an airtight container, though they're best within four hours of frying.