Excellent recipe. Just like my Grandma made. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the honey and toasted the pignoli (pine nuts) before sprinkling on top.
I've also made them in individual servings, mounding a heaping spoonful into foiled muffin cups. Makes about 32 smaller servings. Great for giving a few small portions to the lovely elderly Italian couple next door!
I tried to copy my Grandmother's recipe. This was close, but not quite right. I was told that I should have cooked the honey longer to give it a darker color. It was not sticky enough, so the presentation was a flop.... literally. Very messy, too much work, not worth it. For those who attempt this, here's the best tip: When you roll the dough into "ropes", simply cut the ropes into the sizes you want them to be. Once you fry them, they will plump up into ball shapes. I wasted so much time shaping the dough into balls before frying them... a step that was completely unnecessary unless you have so much time on your hands that you don't know what else to do with your day.
This recipe is almost identical to my grandmother's recipe brought with her from Naples, Italy. The only difference is that she added an extra egg, and 2 extra tsp. of baking powder. They come out lighter and less dense. You do not have to roll them into balls. Just roll into a rope, cut into pieces and fry in hot oil. To solve the problem with the honey being too thin to hold everything together, my grandmother always heated the honey with sugar. If using a large bottle of honey, use 1 cup of sugar and heat on the stove till bubbly. Then toss the strufoli into the hot honey, remove with slotted buttered spoon, and begin mounding onto a platter with the buttered spoon or, if you hands can take the heat, buttered hands. They will hold together nicely into a nice mound.
Excellent served these after a huge meal (the feast of the 7 fish Christmas Eve) and the table had tons of cookies and cakes panettone and these were gone everyone loved them they really are delicious thank you so much I have replace my grandma's recipe with this one. One thing I made them a little larger only to save a little time but turns out that everyone liked them that way so I m just going to keep them a little larger to save the chef some time plus they were tender in texture and I really liked that.
Great recipe. Exactly like my grandma used to make. Next time I would make the dough balls smaller (about the size of a pistachio) because they swelled so much in the oil. I will be making this again!
Thank You it is a great recipe it had its own flavor and they are not to soft. They came out perfect.
This recipe came out wonderfully and tasted exactly like my mother used to make them.
THANK YOU Rosina! It's so nice to have an authentic DELICIOUS recipe for these after the stale-tasting ones I bought from our local Italian bakery!
Thank You Rosina! I have made this two Christmases in a row. My Italian Family loves it! My Mom who is from Naples said it it just like my Grandmother use to make. Sometimes I add just a bit of extra lemon zest. Happy Holidays!
