Struffoli – Italian Honey Balls

StruffoliorItalian Honey Ballsare tiny balls of fried dough tossed in a good sticky honey syrup and decorated with festive sprinkles. It's such a fun and impressive Italian Christmas dessert that the whole family can get involved in making!

Quick recipe snapshot

• Traditional Neapolitan Christmas dessert.
• No yeast, simple dough that's easy to prep.
• Crispy on the outside and soft inside served in a good sticky orange and honey syrup.
• Fun to decorate with colourful festive sprinkles.

Struffoli are wonderful deep fried golden honey balls originating in Naples, in fact, our whole five years living in Tuscany, we never saw these at Christmas time once. Although there were plenty of Ricciarelli and Panforte around. It's good how regional Italian food is.

And because we love everything about Italian cuisine and Christmas, we had to learn how to make these; they are so pretty and festive!

You might also see these honey balls called Cicerchiata (Abruzzo)Scalilli (Calabria) or Pignolata (Sicily) but whatever you call them, they are sweet, sticky and good.

And although they might look like mini fried doughnuts they don't have that kind of texture, they're crispy on the outside with a slightly softer middle, and the honey makes them sweet, sticky and utterly good.

Ingredient notes

See the photo below that shows all the ingredients you need!

• Italian 00 flour – you can also use all-purpose flour
• Rum – you can use another liquor of choice such as grappa, marsala or strega. If you don't want to use alcohol, you can use water instead.
• Orange zest – lemon zest will also work.
• Sprinkles – you can use any sprinkles or decorations you like for these. Have fun and use what you love. You can also use candied fruit such as cherries and nuts (almonds are often used too).
• Oil for frying – we use either sunflower oil or vegetable oil, but use whatever flavourless oil you prefer.

Visual walk-through of the recipe

See our step-by-step photos below to give you a visual representation of the recipe. The full written recipe can be found in the recipe card below.

Put all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle and add the melted butter, eggs, and rum (photos 1 & 2).

Mix the ingredients together until it starts to come together, then knead into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave to rest for 30 minutes (photos 3 & 4).

Once rested, cut the dough in half then cut each half into 3 equal pieces. One at a time roll each piece of dough into a long sausage shape about 1cm thick. Cut each log into small pieces roughly 1cm in size (like making gnocchi but much smaller) (photos 5 – 8).

Roll each cut piece of dough into balls using the palms of your hands and place on a board or surface lightly dusted with flour so they don't stick. Make sure they are in a single layer and not on top of each other (photo 9).

Using a thermometer, heat the oil in a large pot to 375°F (190°C). Fry the struffoli in batches until golden brown (30-40 seconds). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper (photos 10 & 11).

Once the struffoli have cooled, heat the honey gently in a large pot (photo 12).

Add the cooled struffoli and gently stir until they are thoroughly coated in the honey, let them soak up the honey for 2-3 minutes (photos 13 & 14).

Arrange the honey balls in your desired shape (ring or mound) on a serving plate. Once the honey has cooled, sprinkle over your festive sprinkles (photos 15 & 16).

Recipe tips and FAQs

Rolling out the dough – Don't flour your surface to roll the dough into logs unless you need to, as it can make it much harder to roll out. There's enough butter in the dough so it shouldn't stick.

Shaping the dough – you can pinch small pieces of dough and roll them into balls rather than rolling out logs and cutting them, but we find that it's harder to keep them at an even size. Rolling and cutting the dough is easy, like making gnocchi, but much smaller.

Oil temperature – make sure you use a candy thermometer to heat your oil to the correct temperature. It makes things much easier; if your oil is too hot, they will brown too easily and be raw in the middle.

Drain after frying – drain the struffoli straight after frying on kitchen paper so any excess oil is absorbed.

Can we prepare these in advance?

Fried and drained struffoli will last up to 4-5 days in a sealed container or can be frozen for up to 3 months. Toss them in warm honey and sprinkles before serving.

Can we freeze them?

You can freeze fried struffoli for up to 3 months. defrost them completely before adding the honey syrup and sprinkles.

More Italian Christmas recipes you might like

• Chocolate Salami (Salame di Cioccolato)
• Panettone Biscotti
• Pandoro Christmas Tree Cake (Italian Christmas Cake)
• Amaretto Mulled Wine (Vin Brulé)
• Panettone Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Makes 12 servings

For the dough

• 3 cups Italian 00 or all-purpose flour ((420g) spooned and leveled*)
• ⅓ cup sugar ((65g))
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 3 large eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1 zest of one orange
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• 4 tablespoons melted butter ((55g))
• 1 pinch of salt
• Vegetable oil for frying

For coating

• 1 cup honey ((300g))
• Sprinkles

Equipment

• candy or sugar thermometer
• heavy-based pot

Method

Make the dough

1. Put all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & orange zest) in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the middle and add the melted butter, eggs and rum.

2. Mix the ingredients together until it starts to come together then knead into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Fry

1. Once rested, cut the dough in half then cut each half into 3 equal pieces. One at a time roll each piece of dough into a long sausage shape about 1cm (1/2 inch) thick. Cut each log into small pieces roughly 1cm (1/2 inch) in size (just like making gnocchi but much smaller).

2. Roll each cut piece of dough into balls using the palms of your hands and place on a board or surface lightly dusted with flour so they don't stick. Make sure they are in a single layer and not on top of each other.

3. Using a thermometer, heat the oil in a large pot to 375°F (190°C) at least 2-3 inches deep. Fry the struffoli in batches until golden brown (30-40 seconds). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

4. Once the struffoli have cooled, add the honey to a large pot (big enough to hold all of the struffoli) and heat it gently just until it becomes very liquidy, it will only take a few seconds.

5. Add the cooled struffoli and gently stir until they are thoroughly coated in the honey, let them soak up the honey for 2-3 minutes.

Assemble

1. Arrange the struffoli in your desired shape (ring or mound). To create a ring, place a ramekin or large glass in the middle of your serving plate and arrange the struffoli around it. You can remove the ramekin after a few minutes. Alternatively, arrange the struffoli in a large mound on a plate, then decorate with sprinkles.

Kitchen notes

• Measuring flour We highly recommend using a kitchen scale when working with flour, but if you are using cups, spoon it into cups and level it off with a knife.
• Rolling out the dough Don't flour your surface to roll the dough into logs unless you need to as it can make it much harder to roll out. There's enough butter in the dough so it shouldn't stick.
• Leftovers prepared struffoli with honey will keep well for around 2-3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature.