Struffoli

Pea-sized fried dough balls in citrus honey, built into a ring.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), honey.

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 40 g butter, soft
• 2 tablespoons limoncello or dry white wine
• zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 litre sunflower oil, for deep frying, which is poured off
• 400 g honey
• 80 g candied peel, diced
• coloured sprinkles and candied cherries, to finish

Method

1. Make a firm dough with the flour, eggs, butter, limoncello, half the zest and the salt. Knead 8 minutes and rest it 30.
2. Roll ropes the thickness of a pencil and cut them into pieces the SIZE OF A PEA. Smaller than feels sensible — a struffolo should be swallowed whole, and the ratio of crisp surface to inside is the whole texture.
3. DEEP FRY at 170C in small batches, 90 seconds, shaking the basket so they colour evenly. Drain on a rack.
4. WARM THE HONEY WITH THE REMAINING ZEST AND LET IT REDUCE SLIGHTLY, 3 minutes, so it thickens enough to coat. This is the difference from a pignolata, where the honey goes on unflavoured and the pieces are larger and piled into a cone.
5. Take it off the heat before it reaches 120C or the finished ring sets into one solid lump.
6. Turn the fried balls and the candied peel through the honey until every one is glossy.
7. BUILD THEM INTO A RING ON A PLATE, around an oiled glass which you then lift out, so there is a hole in the middle. Scatter sprinkles and cherries and leave it an hour to set.
8. Pour the frying oil off once cooled.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes