Struffoli – Neapolitan Honey balls
Ciao everyone.. This evening I had the pleasure of making struffoli together with my neighbor, Melanie. She had a recipe that was passed down from her grandmother and then to her mother but she never attempted to make them on her own. And what’s better than making cookies together. We laughed, we cried and we reminisced about life and drank a little wine…
Well anyway..back to the cookies….These little fried “honey balls” are a Neapolitan treat that are made exclusively during Christmas. The dough is easy to prepare and varies according to your family recipe.
Some recipes add orange or lemon zest to the dough and some add a little sugar to the dough and some have no sugar. The dough is rolled into a rope and cut into one inch pieces and then fried till golden brown. The little toasty balls are coated with warm sweet honey and sprinkled with colorful candy non perils . While still warm, they be shaped into a Christmas tree or circular wreath looks very festive and for your Christmas dessert table.
Here is a picture of the little pieces of dough that are ready for frying.
Here is a picture after they are fried to a golden brown color.
Ready to dig into….coated with warm honey and candy sprinkles…so festive!! bet you can’t eat just one!
- 1 stick – salted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon or orange zest (optional but recommended)
- 3 cups all purpose flour, + ½ cup in reserve for rolling out dough
- 1 tbsp. of baking powder
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 1 cup honey
- Sugar sprinkles
- In a large mixing bowl, add melted butter, sugar and eggs and whisk until blended. Add the orange or lemon zest.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder and stir till combined. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, a little at a time, until the dough becomes firm and you can handle it without it sticking to your hands. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.
- Take enough dough to fit in the palm of your hand, about the size of a golf ball, and roll it between your hands to make a “rope” shape, about one-fourth inch in diameter. Cut the rope into small marble sized slices and form into little balls. . Place them on a cookie sheet. At this point, the tiny pieces of dough can be covered with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight or when you are ready to fry them.
- Prepare to fry. Fill a large heavy saucepan with enough vegetable oil to fill the pan 1/3 of the way up pan.. Heat the oil to approximately 375 ° F degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, test the temperature with one of the balls to see if it sizzles and turns golden brown. Fry the balls in small batches, using a slotted spoon or fry basket. Once they’re golden brown remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- In s small saucepan, heat honey until warm. drizzle honey over balls to coat well. You can mound balls into a tree shape or wreath at this time and sprinkle with colorful candy sprinkles.
