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Calcioni di Ricotta — Sweet Ricotta Pastries of Molise
Molise — throughout the region, associated specifically with Easter. Calcioni are prepared for the Easter table in virtually every Molisano household and represent the convergence of the spring ricotta season (ewes have been milking since late winter) with the Easter celebration.
Calcioni (also called calzoni dolci in some variants) are the definitive sweet pastry of Molise at Easter: small, half-moon shaped pastries with a short, lard-enriched pastry dough encasing a filling of fresh sheep's ricotta, egg, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. They are fried in lard (traditionally) or olive oil until golden, then dusted with icing sugar or honey. The combination of the barely-sweet, rich pastry and the lightly sweetened, citrus-scented ricotta is one of the most satisfying expressions of southern Italian pasticceria — not cloying, not dramatic, simply correct.
Ceppelliate — Molisano Filled Christmas Pastries
Molise — the ceppelliate tradition is documented specifically in the Campobasso and Isernia provinces. The chickpea-cocoa filling combination suggests a post-17th century date for the current form (after cocoa reached Molise through Naples), though the chickpea-honey filling element is certainly older.
Ceppelliate (also spelled ceppeliate) are the characteristic Christmas filled pastries of the Molise interior: small, half-moon or ring-shaped pastries with a short, egg-enriched dough, filled with a dense mixture of chickpeas cooked with honey, cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves — a filling that is simultaneously sweet and deeply spiced, with the chickpea providing a neutral starchy base that absorbs the honey and cocoa completely. Fried in olive oil until golden, then dusted with icing sugar. The chickpea-honey-cocoa filling is uniquely Molisano — found nowhere else in Italian confectionery — and represents the meeting of the ancient chickpea tradition of the region with the spice-and-cocoa tradition of the 17th-century trading routes.
Panonta — Molisano Lard and Herb Flatbread
Molise — throughout the region. Panonta is documented in Molisano rural records from the 18th century as the standard working bread of the mountain interior. The name (greased bread) describes its technique directly.
Panonta (from pane (bread) and unto (greased)) is the traditional enriched flatbread of Molise: a simple bread dough generously enriched with lard, seasoned with salt and coarsely cracked black pepper, sometimes flavoured with fennel seeds or dried rosemary, and baked in a wood-fired oven until the exterior is golden and slightly blistered and the interior is soft and fragrant with lard. It is both a table bread and a travelling bread — the lard enrichment extended its shelf life to several days, making it the bread that Molisano shepherds and farm workers carried on journeys. It is eaten plain, with prosciutto, or with the local sheep cheeses.
Signorelle — Molise Fried Dough Twists
Molise — the cicerchiata/struffoli tradition is pan-southern-Italian, but the Molisano variation (signorelle) has regional character in the lard-and-wine dough. The preparation is documented throughout the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as the standard Carnival and Christmas fried dough.
Signorelle (also called cicerchiata in Molise) are the Carnival and Christmas fried dough preparation: small balls of simple dough (flour, eggs, lard, white wine, sugar, and a pinch of baking soda) fried in lard until golden and puffed, then coated in honey and piled into a mound or formed into a ring — the honey sets as it cools, binding the fried dough balls into a sticky, honeyed mass that is broken apart at the table. The preparation is identical in concept to the Neapolitan struffoli and the Abruzzese cicerchiata, and represents the same ancient tradition of fried dough with honey as the primary winter festival sweet of the Apennine tradition.