Struffoli are delicious hazelnut-sized fried balls of dough spruced up with orange and lemon zest. They’re a favorite Italian Christmas dessert.
Struffoli is Italian dessert sweet made with fried dough balls which are crunchy outside and soft and airy inside. These balls are sweetened with sugar honey syrup and flavoured with orange and lemon zest. They make a wonderful dessert as well as a snack to enjoy anytime when you are craving for something sweet. 
Italian Struffoli
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Struffoli are delicious hazelnut-sized fried balls of dough spruced up with orange and lemon zest. They’re a favorite Italian Christmas dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain flour + more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 cup yoghurt
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- a pinch salt
- oil for frying
For sugar honey syrup
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup hazelnuts toasted
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
- Add lemon zest, orange zest, vanilla, yoghurt and orange juice.
- Mix until it forms a sticky dough.Wrap the dough in cling film and let it chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
- Once chilled take out the dough from refrigerator.
- Sprinkle some dry flour on the work surface. Divide the dough into two parts.
- Make 4 small pieces from one part of the dough. Roll each piece into a long strip. Cut each strip into small hazelnut size piece.
- Roll the small pieces into round balls and place them on a baking paper lined baking sheet.
- Likewise, make small round hazelnut-sized balls from the remaining strips and other part f the dough.
- Heat the oil for frying in a pan. Deep fry the struffoli balls until golden from both sides.
- Drain them on a paper towel and set aside.
- In another pan add sugar, honey and lemon juice. Let the syrup boil for 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the fried struffoli and toasted hazelnuts into the syrup.Mix well to coat evenly in the syrup.
- Remove from syrup and serve sprinkled with icing sugar. Store in air tight jars.
Notes
Store the cooled struffoli in air-tight containers. Stays fresh for a week at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Italian
