Monday, December 17, 2007

Struffala recipe

Eating Struffala is one of my favorite memories of Christmas time. As I have gotten farther away from my Italian roots in miles and time the tradition of Struffala has faded a bit. I know I am not going to walk into any holiday gathering and see Struffala on the table. So I have decided the bring it back for my family.

Its a very easy recipe and kid friendly too. But it never fails that even in its simplicity I forget how to make it.

I got the recipe off the internet, as well as the picture since I haven't made it yet. When I do i will be sure to post my own results. I have altered the recipe minimally.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted flour
4 eggs
teaspoon sugar
teaspoon baking powder
teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cups honey
multi-colored candy sprinkles


In a mixing bowl, pile the flour and make a well in the center of the pile. Put the eggs, sugar, baking powder, and lemon peel into the well and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Form the mixture into tiny ball shapes (or any shape of your preference), maybe half-inch in diameter.

Next, heat vegetable oil in an approximately one-quart pot, filling it about half-way with the oil When the oil becomes very hot, carefully drop the balls into the pan and fry until a golden brown. Carefully remove the balls from the oil and place them in a colander or on sheets of paper towels laid out flat.

Once the cake balls are cool and the oil has dried off, arrange them on a platter and cover them in honey. Then pile them up in a tree form and sprinkle colored sugar on them. Your guess will have great fun picking pieces off and popping them in their mouths.

I would love to know if you made it and how it went over! Leave me a comment!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have a tip for you. instead of rolling into little balls try taking fist full of dough & rolling it out with your hands into long strips of dough about
1/2" thick. then cut into 1/2" pieces. it is much quicker. g-ma did it this way. i have also used my bread maker to make the dough & then used the pretzel attachment to get the long strips.

Anonymous said...

I've been making struffala all my life and I have some tips for you.

1. Use egg yolks ONLY, egg whites make it hard as a rock.
2. Delete Baking powder

Add to the honey a drop or two of food grade cinnamon extract or cinnamon oil

The above tip on making strips is the Italian way... lots of work but it makes GREAT pics!