Cuculi & Cuzzupe: Italian Nonna Shares Her Traditional Calabrese Easter Sweets (e8)

Buon giorno a tutti. In this episode, Nonna Mia, la nonna di tutti (everybody's grandma) shares her traditional Calabrese Easter sweets - Cuculi & Cuzzupe. Although Easter breads are made throughout Italy, each region has its own approach. Calabria is one of Italy's 20 states, found at the bottom of the 'boot', and is Nonna's home state. The crown-like version is called CUZZUPE, and symbolically, represents Christ's crown of thorns. For this, Nonna makes two equally sized rope-like pieces and braids them into a wreath shape. Both are decorated with eggs and you can use painted eggs if you prefer. Eggs are secured with smaller strips of dough. Egg-wash is used and sprinkles are optional. The smaller version is called CUCULI, fashioned to look like a little person, with the egg as the head, and the strand ends, as its feet. She uses a strip of dough to make its scarf! :-) Every year, without fail, she makes one for each grandchild. To make Nonna's Easter Sweets, you will need 13 eggs, 6 for the dough, and another 6 (washed) as decoration and another for the egg-wash, about 5 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar (though you can put more if you prefer sweetness), 4 oz of oil, 4 oz of ginger ale, the grated rind of a lemon and 3 teaspoons of baking powder. Nonna makes a 'nest' with her flour and then adds the ingredients and mixes all the ingredients with her hands until the dough comes together into a sticky ball, then she kneads it until it is smooth, and has a slight sheen - about 5 minutes. Nonna sprays her pans before placing the Cuculi and Cizzupe on them and bakes them about 30 minutes in a preheated 325F oven. Buona Pasqua!! Buon appetito! Contact Details: Mobile: 1 249.877.8822 or via Email: [email protected] & [email protected] YouTube Channel:    / @nonnamia7890   TikTok @nonnamiarecipes Instagram: nonnamiarecipes Facebook: @nonnamiarecipes