Struffolli... Dana-Style

Struffolli... Italian Honey Balls

Dana-Style

1. Have your Luke pour sugar into the sugar jar (from a milk jar being used for storage because when Tony bought groceries a couple of weeks ago there were no small bags of sugar so he bought a 25 lb bag and we poured the sugar into milk jars for storage -take a breathe now-)

2. Dump sugar and cornstarch into your blender and make some powdered sugar (not a necessary step if you aren't out of xx sugar like we were)

3. Heat up your oil in your Kitchen Kettle (you need one of these... really, they are great, really versatile, etc... made by Presto). Heat the oil to, oh, say, 375? Yeah, that sounds good. Use a bland oil (like canola or vegetable) not peanut (unless you like that flavor) and remember olive oil is not good for high heat frying.

4. Have your Caleb wash a half dozen eggs. (in other words, scrub the poop off the shells... hey, it's real life and real life isn't always pretty!)

5. Into your mixing bowl put six eggs, 1 c sour cream, 1 c sugar, 2 sticks of butter and a glunk of vanilla.

6. Mix all the yumminess together! Add the baking powder and the flour one cup at a time.

7. Here ya go!

8. Dump the dough onto your cutting surface.

9. Divide and conquer.

10. Roll into ropes and cut into chunks.

Okay, now here's where I depart from the recipe given to me by my New Jersey Italian Friend Barb who is married to a Greek Guy... Barb says the ropes should be 1/2 - 3/4 inch in diameter and cut into chunks the same size and then rolled into little balls. She assures me that if you make them that size this recipe will yield a 'gazillion' balls.

I trust her.

Really.

I just don't have time for that. I have the hungry children egging me on... are they done yet? Are they done yet?? So chunks it is for us!

11. Arrange neatly (roflol) in your fryer basket. Not much more than one layer or they will not cook as well.

12. Plunk them into the yummy hot oil goodness.

Plunk gently... hot oil splashes and burns because, well, it is hot.

13. Somewhere along the process have your Molly make a light powdered sugar glaze. Here we depart again from Barb's instructions... at this point you are supposed to do the honey thing. My children don't like honey... so we improvise. Sorry Barb!

14. Remove from the fryer when they are deeply golden brown. Let them hang around for a minute or two to drain.

15. Gently scooch them over into the glazey goodness...

16. Gently toss and remove from the glaze.

17. Since you want to impress your husband's coworkers with half of this batch... have your Luke and your MaryVance roll some of them into neat balls. There, Barb, does that make you happy. I know, I know, they are still too big...


18. Place on a somethingorother to dry a bit.

19. Enjoy.

These are yummy fresh from the glaze.

They are yummy the next day.

After they cool you can store them in an airtight container until they are all gone!

And, whatever you do... do not call them donut holes. Trust me, just don't do it. If you do... my New Jersey Italian Friend Barb who is married to a Greek Guy will look you up... and it won't be pretty...

LOL!

Here is the original recipe from Barb!

Struffolli...Italian honey balls for lack of better descripition...no one seems to know what the real name is unless they are Italian

this recipe makes a gazillion

2 lbs flour (8 cups i believe)

¾ t baking powder

6 eggs

1/2 lb butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 pint sour cream

1 c sugar

1 bottle honey

vegetable oil

those little round sprinkles...not the long ones that go on ice cream (spritz?)put all ingrds in a mixing bowl except the flour and mix well

add flour slowly till well blended

roll out dough on a well floured surface into roped about 1/2 in to 3/4 in thick, 18 in long

cut into 1/2 in to 3/4 in balls

heat a large pot of oil/crisco and fry the balls until lightly browned

drain on paper towel then

put in a bowl...add some honey to each batch and mix well

sprinkle with the spritzie thing...if you want to be artistic, have a blast we usually put them in a big red bowl in the middle of the table with a spoongreat warm with coffee

recipe hint...do ALL the rolling and cutting first...unless you are used to the whole process or have an "assembly line" sort of thing going, you'll burn batches....not that i would know that