Struffoli
Original recipe found on a "regional cooking" booklet.
Struffoli (singular: struffolo) are a traditional christmas dessert here in Naples and in the surrounding region.
They're small sweet dough balls, deep fried and coated with honey.
They're one of my favorite sweet dishes ever, and they're extremely easy to make, so I'm sharing my recipe!
Ingredients
❧ 500g of flour (I use Schaer's Mix C for my gluten-free needs,
but it doesn't matter, any all purpose will do!)
❧ 5 eggs
❧ ~40 grams of butter (melted, but not fuming hot!)
❧ ~75 grams of sugar
❧ 1 pinch of cinnamon (or more - only you know how bland your 5 yrs old cinnamon is)
❧ grated zest of 1 lemon
❧ grated zest of 1 orange
❧ 50 ml of Strega liqueur
(a bit of hard liqueur helps with the pastry, and this traditional one has a lot of spices, so helps in giving them a nice aroma.
You could probably substitute with a more flavourless hard liqueur and add some more aromas on the side imo! When I'm out, I substitute with some limoncello, myself.)
❧ 1 pinch of baking soda
❧ 1 pinch of salt
❧ honey (must be liquid and not harden)
❧ (sprinkles and candied fruit to taste, to decorate!)
Preparation
They're really easy to make!
❧ Mix all the ingredients (save for the honey and decorative candied fruit/sprinkles) together
to make a dough. It should be pretty soft and easy to work with, like play dough. If it's too
hard you need a bit more liquid - a pinch of liqueur more should do. If it's way too soft, conversely,
add a pinch more flour.
❧ The canonical way to make the lil balls is to roll the pastry into thin sticks, then cut them in half a cm little pieces.
In my household we actually roll them into balls one by one. We love to suffer! Except for me - I LOVE rolling these
little dough spheres. Gluten free flour also usually react a little differently, so we find it best to roll them one by one.
❧ Then you deep fry in a small, tall pan full of oil, until they're golden. I usually fry them in batches.
❧ Once the whole batch is done, and they've cooled down enough, you can mix them in a big bowl with honey, candied fruit, and sprinkles.
They taste even better once you allow them to set a bit in the honey!
I don't like to eat the candied fruit, but it also infuses a really good taste in the honey, so I still recommend putting in some,
even if you're not a fan.
❧ Enjoy!!!
