Caggionetti Abruzzesi | Sweet Chocolate Chickpea Ravioli

Chickpeas are incredibly nutritious, so it’s no surprise that all the rage online is trying to turn these legumes into chocolatey treats. This is no fad, though, as the people of Abruzzo have been doing the same for a very long time!

Caggionetti Abruzzesi | Sweet Chocolate Chickpea Ravioli

These traditional Abruzzesi cookies are sweet, fried ravioli filled with a spiced filling of chickpeas and chocolate. Don’t worry, they won’t taste like hummus; they’re simply delicious!

A Note on Chickpeas

This recipe calls for pre-cooked chickpeas. You can cook them yourself, from dried, measuring about half the final desired weight (in this case, you would cook 50 grams of dry chickpeas to arrive at about 100 grams of cooked chickpeas).

To cook dry chickpeas, soak them in water and a small spoonful of baking soda overnight. The next day, thoroughly drain and rinse the chickpeas, then place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil, partially cover the pot, and cook the chickpeas until they are soft and tender but not mushy (it can take 30 minutes to one hour, depending on the quantity).

Occasionally stir the chickpeas by gently swirling the pot. If the water reduces too much, add more warm water to keep the chickpeas covered. When cooked, salt the chickpeas to taste and turn off the heat, keeping them in the water where they were cooked and using a slotted spoon to remove them when it’s time to make the cookies.

You can also use canned chickpeas. In this case, drain the chickpeas (note that the weight listed below is for drained chickpeas) before making the cookies.

Rolling the Dough

While you can roll the dough with a rolling pin, we strongly recommend a pasta machine for more consistent (not to mention faster) results. If rolling by hand, the dough should be rolled until it is about 1.3 mm thick, the equivalent of a #7 setting on a standard Marcato Atlas pasta machine. After rolling the dough (which you can do in batches) simply cut it into sheets for ravioli shaping. The sheets should be about 4 inches (10 cm) wide but can be any length depending on what’s convenient for your work space.

Watch the Pasta Grammar video:

CAGGIONETTI ABRUZZESI RECIPE

Makes: About 12 cookies

Cook Time: 90 minutes

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

• 1 ⅔ tablespoons (20 g) granulated sugar

• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) white wine

• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 egg, beaten

• 3.5 ounces (100 g) cooked chickpeas (see above)

• 1 tablespoon (8 g) dark cocoa powder

• 1 ½ tablespoons (30 g) honey

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) spiced rum

• A pinch of cinnamon (optional)

• A pinch of cloves (optional)

• 3 tablespoons (20 g) chopped almonds

• 1 ounce (30 g) dark chocolate, shaved or finely chopped

• Frying oil (choose a neutral dessert-friendly oil, such as peanut)

• Powdered sugar for topping

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, wine and olive oil. Also add about ¼ of the beaten egg (the rest can be used elsewhere or discarded). Mix the ingredients together by hand until a rough dough forms, then transfer it to a clean work surface and knead until smooth and even.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, you can prepare the stuffing.

In a blender or food processor, combine the chickpeas, cocoa powder, honey, rum, cinnamon and cloves. Blend into a thick paste. Some blenders can have trouble with smaller amounts, but you can help the processor out by adding a little bit more rum as needed until the blades have something to “grip.” Transfer the paste into a large bowl and stir in the chopped almonds and dark chocolate.

After the dough has rested, cut it in half. Roll one of the halves while keeping the other portion wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it from drying. Using a pasta machine, roll the dough using the widest roller setting (#0 on a standard Marcato Atlas machine). Set the machine to the next setting (in this case #1) and roll again. Continue until you have rolled the dough into a long sheet that is about 1.3 mm thin (#7 on an Atlas). If, at any point, the dough sticks to the rollers you can lightly dust it and the machine with flour.

Cut the sheet in half (lengthwise), into two sheets of equal size. Down the middle of one sheet place tablespoon-sized dollops of filling, keeping 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) of space in between each drop. Drape the second dough sheet on top and carefully press it down around the filling to remove all excess air.

Use a 2 ½ inch (6.5 cm) ravioli or cookie cutter to cut dumplings around each filling drop. Be sure to gently press the edges of each raviolo shut to seal in the filling, then place the shaped cookies on a lightly floured surface. Gather up the remaining dough scraps and re-roll them, then make more ravioli. Continue these steps to roll and shape ravioli until you have run out of dough (including the half you set aside) and/or filling.

Fill a deep pan with about 3 inches (7.5 cm) of frying oil. Heat over medium/high until the oil is about 360° F (180° C) or until you can drop a small morsel of dough in and it begins to bubble and fry immediately.

Carefully drop 2 or 3 ravioli into the hot oil and fry, flipping occasionally with a pair of forks, until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined dish to cool.

Serve at room temperature, dusted with powdered sugar sugar.

Buon appetito!