Honey Balls / Struffoli

Maryann, thank you so much for creating the Struffoli that my Mom used to make, she passed before I could get her recipe but this is it. I’ve looked at the other “big name” chef’s and they all add lemon and orange zest, nahhhh. THIS is the one!!!!
Love your shows and your food. Keep producing authentic Italian recipes.
Oh by the way: do you have a recipe for Aloi Oohia (spelt wrong I know) Anchovies, garlic and oil sauce for pasta, I didn’t get that recipe from her either. Thank you again Maryann. 🙂

My Family in Napels. never use butter in the ingredients. Just flour, baking powder, eggs and lemon/Orange zest. Not forgetting the oil to fry them. This recipe has been used for approx more than a 100 years within my mothers Family.

I would like to know how to store the struffoli.

Is there a way to keep them in storage for a long time i.e. 3/4 mths? or more

Thank you,
Theresa

thank you so much MaryAnn for this recipe! but where my family is from, the province of Caserta, near Naples, we call these “favette” but we also make “struffoli” and those are also fried but rolled in sugar. I haven’t made these “favette” with the honey in soooo long! I can’t wait to surprise my family on Christmas Eve! thanks so much! and I enjoy watching your show!! BUON NATALE E FELICE ANNO NUOVO!!

My grandmother passed away at 100 and she made these every Easter this was the only recipe I couldn’t find when she died cant wait to make them

I grew up in a large Italian family,,,I always had honey balls ( as we called them) as a kid, my Grandmoms sister used to make them all the time and take them to our house and everyone else’s around the holidays,the problem was man grandmother as much as she tried could never get them like my Aunt , hers always got hard and stuck together,,is there a secret to make them so the honey doesn’t get like glue and harden,,thanks !!!!

My grandmother used to make honey balls and your
recipe helped me bring this Easter treat back to the table!
Thank you. Happy Easter!

My husbands family makes the little dough balls but they use them in soup

LOL my husbands family uses the dough balls
Minus all the honey etc just the fried dough balls

My whole life I’ve eaten Struffoli. I could eat them all myself. My Zia Laura would make them anytime I asked. She would also make rolled out dough, cut into long strips and then fold it in half length ways (to hold honey), spiraled it into a circle, then fried & honey put on them. I don’t know what these are called but they tasted like the same dough as Struffoli. Is it.

Struffoli, Zepoli, Sfinci,
A different name in all parts of Italy and Sicily. So simple to make.
I loved the process, the aroma and the taste.
Eat them Plain, With Honey or sugar and cinnamon, What memories I have and will always hold close.
Grazie.

In Abbruzzo my family called it something like ‘ciceriquate’. My mum has made it for years – she adds shaved almonds which is awesome. You can store it indefinitely in the freezer.

This recipe is exactly how my Mom made honey balls. She never used orange or lemon zest. This is the real deal recipe! Thanks for sharing!

I will forever remember eating these honey balls at my Great Grandmothers EVERY Christmas Eve!!! Thank u for the “real” recipe…God Bless💕💕💕

This comment is for Rosemarie Bruno – my grandmother made “rosettes” which were stripes folded in half and then turned in a circular motion to creT a rose shape. She would pinch certain areas and when the orange flavored honey was poured on them the honey would sit in the folds too. Really delicious. Light and crunchy. I don’t know his she got them that light and crunchy. My dough always comes out hard. I have tried yeast recipes and no yeast recipes.

Continuation to Rosemarie Bruno

My grandmother was from Northern Italy

This is in reply to Suzanne and Rosemarie…. my great grandmother used to make the same rosette flowers. They were drizzled with boiled honey and chopped almonds. She was the best baker because she baked to perfection each and every time. But she baked by feel, not recipe, so any attempt to write down her methods were only approximations. We never could get her ‘honey cups’just right and you can’t even find them in the Italian bakery. These honey balls soon became a good- enough substitute but nothing like the real thing.

theresa,
about storage; WE kept ours in a large Charles Chips can with wax paper, in between

We had an Italian family that lived across the street when in southern California. They blessed us with a plate of these one Christmas. Oh, what a joy to eat, I don’t remember the sprinkles on them, but they were dipped in honey.

We would have a small assembly line making Struffoli around Christmas time with my Mother, Grandmother and Aunts, table cloth covered card tables and flour all over and great memories for ever more.
I have been looking for this recipe for years.
Thank you for the post

Can you make struffoli in an air fryer?

My mother use to make huge batches of these at Christmas. All our friends and family use to get a big tray. There are several different variations in this recipe. My mother added orange zest in the honey. Also she noted the more you played with the dough the harder or tougher the ball became when cooked. So if the balls are hard you handled the dough to much. She also added very little sprinkles and added walnut halves to decorate. I have seen dried fruits added as decorations also. This is by far my favorite holiday dessert. Not that they lasted long, she put them in a lined tin for storage. Never lasted long enough with me around. Lol

My grandmother taught me to make these when I was little. She used annisette but not sure in dough or in the honey and funny her name was Rose Bruno and my mom was Rosemarie Bruno like above. She was from Calabria

I have to make multiple batches and want to know if I can do the dough in advance. I appreciate your reply to my email address. Thank you and happy holidays.

Help! i make stufoli every year. But this year they came out chewy. What did I do wrong??

Thank you for the recipe, this is the second time I tried to make these, the first they came out too doughy (more like donuts) and this time they were too dry. How can I make them more light and airy like the bakeries do? I appreciate any help! Thank you!

I used an air fryer instead of deep frying in oil. I set the temperature at 360 degrees and timer for 6 minutes. I followed the rest of the recipe as written. It worked!
Our family called these pignalatas and we always had them for St. Joseph’s Day on March 19.

Hi Dolly,
Did you coat the balls with oil before placing in the air fryer, and how many did you place in the basket ? Received an air fryer just to make these but they came out dry. Thanks!

My mother also made this desert at Christmas time. She called it cicerchiata. As I understand the name comes from cicerchia, a small bean similar to chickpeas. She used a sweet dough and mixed the fried dough balls with honey and toasted slivered almonds.

HAVE NOT MADE THESE IN A LONG TIME WELL ITS TIME THANK YOU AND BLESS YOU

My grandmothers family makes these and always called them “gg’s”. Her mother was from Sicily and she said as a kid they couldn’t pronounce it correctly in Italian so that’s what they called them. Any thoughts on what the actual name would be that would be shortened to “gg”

Has anyone froze the dough balls ahead of time? then fried them at a later date

Can I make my struffoli 2 weeks before Christmas? They came a little hard last time. What did I do wrong?

I make these every year ….i use Crisco in place of the butter

Marie Marino….I have found that if they have too much flour they get too hard. I put a little bit less than the recipe calls for allowing for the extra flour that you wind up using on your surface, hands, etc.

I have been looking for a good recipe for Struffoli for years. My mom used to make this when I was a little girl and when she passed away my step-father threw away her recipe book. I almost had a heart attack!! Well, I finally came across your recipe and made it today! It tastes just like my mom’s! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I will make this every Christmas and Easter from now on!

I air fryed @370 for 8 minutes, delicious and healthy!

My husband said his grandmother always added ground “chi chi” beans, or garbanzos to her recipe. We made a bunch of his grandmother’s cookie recipes for Christmas. They are delicious, and make him so happy!

Everytime I make strufolli when I make the honey and sugar add the balls. They come out so hard and sticky can’t even pull apart. I don’t understand why? I follow the directions. Ty

Hi Maryann
My Mom taught me to make what you call struffoil. But we change it with only
eggs and flour made a dough rolled out on pasta machine cut strips and made bows. Fried and added honey and powered sugar Been watching your show for years