To those who are not from Rome and the surrounding area, the name of this dessert may seem unusual, but I assure you that it is not a typo: the Nutella cloves they are a very simple, but equally delicious sweet that has become very popular in recent years both in Rome and on the Roman coast, especially in the Fregene area. To tell the truth, however, there is no precise and certain information on the origin of the bizarre name they bear. According to some, they could be called this because they were born in Via delle Zoccolette, a characteristic street in the heart of Trastevere.
The certain thing is that they are really good and delicious: Fried pizza dough balls on which a very generous quantity of Nutella is poured and, to conclude, abundant icing sugar. Impossible to resist, one leads to another. The contrast between the sweet flavor of Nutella and the more neutral flavor of the fried balls really makes them irresistible.
Preparing the dough for Nutella zoccolette
You can decide whether to prepare the pizza dough in the morning to use it in the evening or let it rise more quickly. There are two ways I propose: after kneading you can double the dough at room temperature for about 3-4 hours (and this is the quickest method), or alternatively you can put it immediately in the refrigerator, leave it for about 5 hours and then before frying let it acclimatise at room temperature for about 4-5 hours. The important thing, in any case, is that the dough doubles in volumeat that point it is ready to be portioned out into many small balls to fry.
When using brewer’s yeast, I prefer the dry one because I can keep it in the pantry without being afraid that it will expire as quickly as the fresh one. In this recipe we use 3g for 250g of flour, but if you have a block of fresh brewer’s yeast in the fridge you can use 10g. Ready to cook? It’s frying!