It's Struffoli time! These Italian honey balls are nothing more than small, deep-fried balls of dough caramelized in honey and topped with rainbow sprinkles and candied fruit.
Struffoli are a popular Italian Christmas treat you can find in every home and Italian pastry shop in December. It has become a symbol of Neapolitan pastry in the world, like Pastiera Napoletana and Torta Caprese.
The struffoli recipe can be found mainly in southern Italy, where there are several versions. They are all very similar, but have different names depending on the region.
In Calabria, for example, they are called "Turdiddi"; in Umbria and the Marches, they are called "Cicerchiata", where they are also made for Carnival.
But the Neapolitan recipe for these delicious little Italian honey balls is certainly the most rooted and ancient.
Struffoli Napoletani are colorful and delicious! A symbol of wealth and good wishes for the New Year.
In Italy, they are a must for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas lunch and New Year's Eve dinner. They can be made ahead of time because they stay fresh for a long time!
Serve Struffoli with other Italian desserts like Zuppa Inglese or Nutella Cake Roll for a rich and delicious Christmas buffet.
Struffoli recipe is easy to make, you just need a little patience to make the balls of dough. You'll see, the result is sure to be a great success!
Ingredients
- Prep Time: 45 Min
- Cook Time: 15 Min
- Cooling Time: 1 Hour
- Servings: 8
For Struffoli
- 400 g (3 cups) of flour
- 3 eggs
- 80 g (¾ stick) of unsalted butter
- 40 g (2 ¾ tablespoons) of granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons of anise liquor (the authentic Italian recipe wants anise but you can substitute it with orange liquor, Rum or Limoncello)
- zest of 1 orange
- ½ teaspoon of baking powder or baking soda (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- 600 ml (2 ½ cups) of vegetable oil for frying
- 250 g (¾ cup) of Wildflower or Acacia honey
For Decoration
Instructions
Make the Struffoli Dough
Step 1) - First, melt the butter in a double boiler and let it cool. In a large bowl, mix together the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Step 2) - Then add the sugar, melted butter and the liquor.
Step 3) - Make a hole in the center and add the eggs. Mix the ingredients with the help of a wooden spoon. Finally add the grated orange zest.
Step 4) - Mix the ingredien with the spoon. Continue to knead with your hands, until you get a homogeneous dough, free of lumps.
Step 5) - Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Step 6) - After the resting time, cut the dough into equal parts. With your flat hands, roll each piece on the work surface as if to make a cylinder about 1 cm (about ½ inch) thick.
Step 7) - Slice the roll of dough with the help of a small knife into many pieces of 1 cm (½ inch) in size.
Step 8) - At this step you can leave your Sruffoli in small pieces or give them the shape of balls by rolling them between the palms of your hands.
If you want to get the little balls, the preparation times are slightly longer, because each square must be shaped between the palms of your hands until you get well-closed balls, but the final result is more beautiful.
So keep making all the struffoli balls in this way, until the dough is finished.
How to Fry Struffoli
Step 9) - Now we are going to fry struffoli. Use a high-sided saucepan, Place it on the heat with the vegetable oil for frying. Bring the oil to 180°C (356 F).
You can check it with a thermometer or test it with a small piece of dough. If, as soon as you throw it into the oil, it start to fry forming some bubbles, the oil is ready.
Fry Struffoli few at a time, so that you can better control the cooking, turning them a couple of times. In 30-40 seconds they will be ready. Struffoli are ready to perfection when they are a golden color.
Step 10) - Drain them with a skimmer and place on a serving dish, covered with absorbent kitchen paper.
Decorate
Step 11) - In a saucepan that can contain all the struffoli, pour almost all the honey and some rainbow sprinkles. Heat over very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. This step is to make the honey more liquid and more malleable.
Step 12) - Turn off the heat and add the struffoli. Add one more tablespoon of sprinkles and mix all together.
When all the Struffoli are wrapped in honey and sprinkles, immediately transfer them, still hot, to a serving dish. Now we can decorate and give them the final touch that will amaze your guests!
So, transfer them, still hot, to a serving dish. Don't wait too long for this. When the honey cools it begins to harden and it becomes difficult to shape it. In fact, now you can give them the shape you prefer, for example the classic pyramid.
If you want to make the classic donut shape that resembles a Christmas wreath, here how to do it!
Step 13) - Place a glass in the center of the plate. With a spoon, arrange the hot struffoli all around the glass and let them cool.
Step 14) - Decorate with more sprinkles and some candid fruit. When they are cold, you can remove the glass.
Struffoli Napoletani are ready to be served or wrapped to make a delicious and original Christmas gift to your friends or relatives.
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Storage
You can keep these Italian honey balls in a airtight containers for about a week. but just BEFORE the honey and the decorations! So, you fry struffoli, let them cool, then keep them fresh in a container till you want to use them.
They can even be frozen in food bags, so you can defrost and dip them in honey when you're ready to serve.
Struffoli already decorated with honey and sprinkles can be kept for about 4 days in an airtight container or under a glass dome. Have a look to this beautiful Glass Cake Stand with Dome by Libbey.
Variations
- DRIED FRUIT: You can decorate Struffoli even with dried fruit such as walnuts or almonds, or with small pieces of dark chocolate or nougat.
- CANDIES CHERRIES: Often Struffoli Pyramid is decorated with red and green candied cherries that remember Christmas tree balls.
- ANISEED LIQUEUR SUBSTITUTE: According to the authentic Italian recipe of Struffoli, you have to make them with aniseed liqueur. If you don't like it or don't have it at home, you can substitute it with Rum, limoncello or orange liqueur.
- YEAST: The traditional struffoli recipe does not include the use of yeast. In any case, a small percentage of yeast in the dough allows you to get lighter honey balls, softer on the inside and crunchy on the outside.
- BUTTER SUBSTITUTE: Once people used lard to make Struffoli, both in the dough and for frying. Nowadays, we use more butter than lard. If you don't want to use animal fats, you can replace the butter with 80 g (about 6 tablespoons) of sunflower seed oil. The result is still excellent!
- BAKED STRUFFOLI: You can cook Struffoli in the oven at 200°C (390 F) for 15 minutes, on a baking sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Then decorate them with a little honey, poured only on their surface, and some sprinkles.
History and Origin
Struffoli were born in Naples. The nuns prepared them in the convents to give at Christmas to the noble families of the city.
Some think that it was the Greeks, who colonized the Gulf of Naples in the 7th century BC, who brought the Struffoli recipe to Italy. In fact, in Greek cuisine we find the "loukoumades", which are small sweet balls, covered with sugar, very similar to our struffoli.
Furthermore, the word "struffoli" itself seems to derive from the Greek "strongoulos" which means "round". Even the presence of honey, widely used by the Greeks for food preservation, would suggest Greek origins.
Others, on the other hand, believe that the origin of this Neapolitan Christmas dessert is Spanish. In fact, there is a Spanish dessert very similar to Struffoli, which is called "Piñonate"; they are elongated balls of dough.
So it may have been the Spaniards who brought this dessert to Italy during the very long period of Spanish rule in Naples
Recipe Card
Struffoli Recipe
Ingredients
For Struffoli
- 400 g flour 3 cups
- 3 eggs
- 80 g butter ¾ stick, unsalted
- 40 g granulated sugar 2 ¾ tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons liquor (anise)
- 1 orange zest
- ½ teaspoon baking powder or baking soda (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 600 ml vegetable oil 2 ½ cups, for frying
- 250 g honey ¾ cup, Wildflower or Acacia
For Decoration
- Rainbow Sprinkle
- Candied fruit
Instructions
MAKE THE STRUFFOLI DOUGH
- Melt the butter in a double boiler and let it cool. In a large bowl, mix together the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt.
- Add the sugar, melted butter and the liquor.
- Make a hole in the center and add the eggs. Mix the ingredients with the help of a wooden spoon. Finally add the grated orange zest.
- Mix the ingredien with the spoon. Continue to knead with your hands, until you get a homogeneous dough, free of lumps.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- After the resting time, cut the dough into equal parts. With your flat hands, roll each piece on the work surface as if to make a cylinder about 1 cm (about ½ inch) thick.
- Slice the roll of dough with the help of a small knife into many pieces of 1 cm (½ inch) in size.
- At this step you can leave your Sruffoli in small pieces or give them the shape of balls by rolling them between the palms of your hands.
HOW TO FRY STRUFFOLI
- Use a high-sided saucepan, Place it on the heat with the vegetable oil for frying. Bring the oil to 180°C (356 F). Fry Struffoli few at a time, so that you can better control the cooking, turning them a couple of times. In 30-40 seconds they will be ready. Struffoli are ready to perfection when they are a golden color.
- Drain them with a skimmer and place on a serving dish, covered with absorbent kitchen paper.
DECORATE
- In a saucepan that can contain all the struffoli, pour almost all the honey and some rainbow sprinkles. Heat over very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. This step is to make the honey more liquid and more malleable.
- Turn off the heat and add the struffoli. Add one more tablespoon of sprinkles and mix all together.
- When all the Struffoli are wrapped in honey and sprinkles, immediately transfer them, still hot, to a serving dish. Don't wait too long for this. When the honey cools it begins to harden and it becomes difficult to shape it. In fact, now you can give them the shape you prefer, for example the classic pyramid.
- Place a glass in the center of the plate. With a spoon, arrange the hot struffoli all around the glass and let them cool.
- Decorate with more sprinkles and some candid fruit. When they are cold, you can remove the glass.Struffoli Napoletani are ready to be served or wrapped to make a delicious and original Christmas gift to your friends or relatives.
Thomas says
I made these and some other cookies for my wife and I, as well as my son and daughter and son and their significant others, who were here for Christmas dinner. I didn't have orange or citrus peel so I used lemon extract. I can not use alcohol due to healy considerations so I used Chinese Five Spice which has anise and fennel and fried the dough in Vegetable oil. They turned out very good and were eaten up by the end of the evening.
Norina says
Love this recipe. It is work intensive, but it sounds very much with the recipe that I grew up with.
My only reservation is the addition of yeast (my family in Naples used it) however, I do not know how much and does the dough have to rise?
Barbara says
Hi Norina!
Yeast is optional as suggested in the ingredients list. 1/2 teaspoon is enough, just to make the struffoli softer inside. No need to let the dough rise.
Norina Lundy says
grazie tanto ci siamo!