This recipe is my grand mummy’s specialty. It was a tradition for women in Aniane, the village where my grand-parents live, to gather a whole afternoon to make “oreillettes” for the Carnival and for Christmas. This recipe requires a long time and a lot of patience, so I recommend that you do it just like in the old days, with friends! And I can promise you the result will be worth it!

Ingredients (for about 40 oreillettes):

• 5 lemons (only the zest, not the juice)
• 3 eggs
• 500 g fine white flour
• 100 g vegetable oil
• 6 table spoons white wine
• 2 table spoons orange blossom essence
• 50 g butter
• A pinch of salt
• Caster sugar

Indications:

Start by mixing all the ingredients together….

I recommend that you use a bread machine in order to work the dough a long time to make it become very elastic. But my grand mummy does not want to hear about a food processor, she prefers real hand-made oreillettes!!! Leave the dough to rest, covered, in a warm place for at least one hour.

Now comes the tricky bit… Using a slightly sticky surface (like a plastic napkin), stretch little balls of dough into oreillettes. My grandmummy slightly oils her plastic napkin. Sure you will get the first ones wrong but once you will have found the proper technique, you will be able to make them very quickly!

Cook in a frying pan for about 2 or 3 minutes on each side.

Sprinkle with caster sugar… sit and taste!!! Was it not worth it?  😉

Note: You can keep the oreillettes in a box up to one week.