Struffoli

Whether you call them struffoli or honey balls, they’re just plain deliciousness and fun to eat.  You have heard of struffoli, right?

Well, in case you haven’t had struffoli before, I’ll explain.  They’re something that Italian people love to have, especially around Christmas.  And, at least based on my own experiences, they seem to take forever to make (for me, about 4 hours).  They’re tiny fried dough balls in honey.  I blend together my eggs, shortening, lemon zest, salt, sugar, and baking powder, and form a well in my pile of flour on the baking mat.  I keep on forming the dough ball with my hands until there’s a nice, moist dough ball with just a hint of lemon aroma.

Separately, I heat some honey with orange zest in a small pot.  And at some point, I’ll heat some vegetable oil in a somewhat larger pot.  For the honey, I’ll be using a slotted spoon, and when frying the dough balls, I’ll use a spider spoon, one of my favorite kitchen tools.

Anyway, I form tiny dough balls the size of ceci (chick peas) and keep them on a cookie sheet underneath a damp paper towel.  I’ve never counted how many dough balls the recipe makes, but a reasonable guess would be somewhere between 400 and 500.  I fry them in groups of about 10, until they’re golden brown, and then remove them to the honey, make sure they’re coated, and form a conical sort of mound on a plate, and sprinkle with multicolored nonpareils.

And that’s struffoli!