Struffoli

It's that time of year again. My favorite time. Every Christmas Eve growing up, my Grandma would zoom over to our house, in her little blue car, to drop off our family's share of struffoli. Struffoli was and is my most favorite dessert of all time. How could you not love deep fried dough balls drenched in honey and covered in sprinkles?!

Struffoli is a traditional Neapolitan dessert served at Christmas time originating in southern Italy. While my Grandmother is not with us anymore to make us this special dish, she did leave behind the family recipe which, for the past two years, I have been in charge of making. Our struffoli is a simple (but secret!) recipe (I'm sure you can find a decent one online) consisting primarily of a ton of eggs and flour with a bit of sugar and oil and other small things thrown in.



Once you have the dough mixed together, you kneed it a bit and roll it into cigar-size ropes, cutting them into small pieces.










After you have cut up the dough, toss it into hot oil (around 350 degrees works best) to deep fry.

After the balls float and turn golden "honey" brown, let them drain and cool on a paper towel and then drench them in a TON (like a whole bottle, the more the better) of honey and cover with small rainbow ball sprinkles.






Struffoli tastes best after about a day of sitting in the honey. Before serving, make sure to stir up the balls since the honey tends to pool together on the bottom of the dish. My grandmother served them on a Christmas paper plate and covered them in wax paper. They last for a long time and seem to get better with age. Don't leave them out too long or else they might just disappear!