Cartellate on a baking tray by Cesarina Stefania

Cartellate with Vincotto

12/19/2025

Today we present the recipe for preparing Cartellate with vincotto. For people from Puglia, Christmas would not be true Christmas without this traditional dessert that always takes center stage on southern Italian tables during the holiday season.

Cartellate are delightful little fried pastry roses with a citrus fragrance, crisp and flaky. Their preparation requires a certain manual skill: thin strips of dough are "pinched" and then rolled into arabesques resembling a rose. These delicate "lace" pastries are then fried and finally flavored with honey, almonds, chocolate, or colored sprinkles. But the most classic version is without doubt the one with vincotto, a syrup obtained from the slow cooking of Negroamaro and Malvasia grape must. Their shape is said to represent the halo of Jesus, or perhaps the crown of thorns at the crucifixion; while their name, in local dialect "cartiddate", is likely connected to the word for "paper", meaning "folded" or "crumpled", describing the way the dough strips are pinched and shaped to form their unique design.

Cesarina making Cartellate

The origins of cartellate are truly ancient. In Bari, a cave painting dating back to the 6th century BC depicts what appears to be an ancestor of the cartellata. The first written testimony of the recipe can be found in a 1762 document compiled by the Benedictine nuns of Santa Scolastica. Today, cartellate are officially listed among Italy’s Traditional Agri-Food Products (PAT).

A dessert with many names but one unique flavor

In Puglia, this dessert is called differently depending on the area. In Bari, they are known as carteddate, scartilléte, péttue, chelustre, or sfringioli; in Lucera they are called crùstele; while in San Giovanni Rotondo, they go by carangi. Whatever the name, the result is always the same: an ideal sweet treat for a snack between meals, or as the perfect conclusion to lunch or dinner. Like all fried Christmas sweets, cartellate are best enjoyed freshly fried, when the pastry is still crisp, but they remain delicious even at room temperature.

The recipe for Cartellate with Vincotto

So, are you tempted to try preparing cartellate with vincotto and bring a touch of Puglian tradition to your Christmas table? Put on your apron and follow the recipe from our Cesarina Stefania from Polignano a Mare!

Cartellate with vincotto

Fried pastry roses with citrus aroma, typical of the Puglian Christmas season

DifficultyMedium

Preparation time2h

Cooking time20m

€

CostMedium

Ingredients

300 g flour
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
Zest of one mandarin
100 ml white wine
300 ml vincotto
1 l peanut oil

Method

Gently heat the olive oil and add the mandarin zest so it releases its aroma.
After a few minutes, remove the zest and add the white wine.
On a pastry board, make a well with the flour and pour in the aromatic mandarin mixture.
Knead until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough ball.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth.
Take small portions of dough and, using a pasta machine, roll out into thin sheets.
With a pastry wheel, cut the dough into long strips.
Take one strip at a time and pinch the edges with your fingers to create small “pockets,” joining them together gradually to form rosettes.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Heat the peanut oil to the right temperature for frying.
Fry the cartellate a few at a time.
Once fried, let them cool on a tray, being careful not to overlap them.
Prepare the vincotto by heating it in a saucepan with a little water (if you don’t know how to make vincotto, here is the recipe).
Dip the cartellate completely into the warm vincotto for just a few seconds so they take on a golden amber color: the cartellate are now ready to be enjoyed as a Christmas holiday dessert (and beyond)!