Doughs:
Fillings:
Sauces:
What they are
Playful pasta “candies” that I’d take over classic caramels any day. Their origins are hazy—they’re probably from Emilia-Romagna and you might spot them in Parma and Modena around Easter—but now they’ve been happily adopted stateside. Some have round bellies like peppermints, while others stretch long like Jolly Ranchers. All are the perfect canvas for colors and stripes.
How they’re traditionally served
With a variety of fillings and sauces, and now often with colorful patterns.
MAKE THE DOUGH AND FILLING
Make your dough and filling of choice. Let the dough rest, tightly covered, at room temperature for 30 minutes. Transfer your filling to a piping bag and let it chill as needed.
SET UP YOUR WORKSPACE
Dust a sheet pan with semolina or line it with a dishcloth. Gather your tools and set up your pasta machine.
SHEET AND CUT THE DOUGH
Roll a quarter of your pasta dough into a sheet, stopping at setting 7 for a Marcato or at setting 7 for a KitchenAid machine.
Lay the pasta sheet horizontally on your work surface (if you’re using a countertop, dust it with some 00 or all-purpose flour first).
Cut the sheet lengthwise into 2½-inch (6-cm) strips with a bicycle pastry cutter or by hand. For the latter, fold the dough in half lengthwise and make a crease at the midpoint, then unfold it—you should be left with a faint line along the equator. Use a pasta wheel or sharp knife to cut along the crease. With a fluted pasta cutter if you have one, a bicycle pastry cutter, or a sharp knife, cut the sheet crosswise—north to south—at 3- to 3½-inch (7.5- to 9-cm) intervals (just eyeball it). You should have rectangles that are wider than they are tall, similar to an old-fashioned arcade or circus ticket.
MAKE THE CARAMELLE
Cover the rectangles you’re not immediately using with a damp dishcloth or plastic wrap.
Position a rectangle so the fluted (short) ends are east and west on your work surface. Pipe a stout cylinder of filling just above the bottom edge of the dough, leaving ½ inch (1.25 cm) of unfilled space on each side.
If the dough feels dry, add a small amount of water with your finger around the filling or mist it with a spray bottle.
Lift the bottom two corners of the rectangle and roll them up and over the filling, tucking the edge of the dough around to encase it. Then roll it over again so you have a tight tube.
Use your index fingers to locate where the filling begins on each side. Then firmly and confidently press downward to seal—the filling pocket should puff up in the center, à la agnolotti. It’s totally fine if some of the filling leaks out on either side as long as the pasta is sealed well.
At either side of the filling, pinch the top and bottom edges of the pasta together, then fan out the ends to complete the candy-wrapper look.
Arrange the finished caramelle in a single layer on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
COOK THE PASTA
Cook the caramelle until tender, 2½ to 4 minutes.
