Strufoli - Italian Honey Balls
- donsdeliciousdishe
- Jun 10, 2021
- 2 min read
No Italian home is without these not-too-sweet delicacies that are staples of the Christmas and Easter holidays. But they are also wonderful treats any time of year.
Normally, these take a bit of effort to produce if making the dough by hand. But I tried using my bread machine to make the dough and it cut the time drastically. Directions for using a bread machine are at the end of the recipe.
Strufoli (Italian Honey Balls)
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
¼ cup shortening
1 Tablespoon sugar
Dash salt
½ teaspoon lemon zest
1 ½ cups honey
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 Tablespoon rum (optional)
Colored Nonpareils (candy)
Directions:
1. Place flour on board, making a well in the center.
2. Place eggs, egg yolk, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest into the well.
3. Mix well, working the dough with your hands.
4. Cut the dough into 4 or more sections.
5. Shape each section into a long rope and into cut ¾ inch segments.
6. Shape into very small balls, the size of marbles.
7. Let the dough balls rest about 15-20 minutes covered with damp paper towels, while you heat the oil in a deep pot.
8. Drop the balls, a few at a time into the hot oil (350 degrees) until golden brown.
9. They’ll float, just turn them around a bit for even browning.
10. In a saucepan, add together the honey and the orange zest. Warm the honey mixture until it pours easily.
11. As soon as the balls are fried, take them from the oil directly to the honey pot. Allow the dough balls to be coated with honey. (About 30 seconds)
12. Lift balls out of the honey with a slotted spoon, placing them on a serving platter and piling them into a pyramid shape.
13. Sprinkle with Nonpareils while the honey is still warm.
Notes:
You can also make the dough in a bread machine. To do this:
Place the flour, eggs, egg yolk, shortening, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and rum into the bread machine. Use the ‘DOUGH’ setting to create your dough.
Stir occasionally to incorporate all the ingredients.
When ‘dough’ is done, roll out on a floured board and continue from Direction #4 (above)
Note #2:
In place of processed sugar I used 1 Tablespoon of Truvia (a stevia based sweetener).
The amount of salt used here is miniscule and works to make the dough rise properly.
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