Struffoli (Tiny Honey Balls)

Struffoli are an Italian dessert typical of Naples. They consist of tiny fried pieces of dough simply made with flour, sugar, eggs, lemon and rum, completely coated with honey and colored confection. Their dimensions are important indeed the more they are small the more they are good because they absorb the sweet taste of honey. They are simple to cook and in particular they are prepared in the occasion of Christmas. In Naples Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Stuffoli.

INGREDIENTS (for 10 people):

300 g of Flour

2 Eggs

1 Tablespoon of Sugar

1 Lemon

2 Tablespoon of rum or anisette

1 Pinch of salt

25 g of Butter

4 – 5 Tablespoons of Honey

Some colored confections

Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 40 minutes

COOKING TIME: 15 minutes

WINE: Meditandum (White Wine)

PREPARATION

Place the flour as a fountain on a table, in the middle of it add the sugar, the butter, the eggs, the rum, the salt and the grated peel of the lemon.

Knead in order to obtain solid dough and let it stand for about 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes knead again the dough and divide it in small parts. Knead each part rolling it until you obtain loafs thin and long.

Cut the loafs into small squared pieces called struffoli.

Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and fry in it the small squared pieces until they become slightly golden, this takes about 5 minutes. Then drain them on a kitchen paper.

Now put in the middle of a platter an overturned glass and place the struffoli around it.

In a pan place the honey and let it melt then pour it over the struffoli. Remove the glass and sprinkle with colored confections. This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!