How to Make Struffoli | Making It Grow

Clemson Extension Agent and Host of "Making It Grow" Amanda McNulty is joined by fellow Clemson Agent Stephanie Turner who shares her family recipe of making Struffoli. This Italian fried dough dessert with a honey glaze has been made by her family during the holidays for generations.

Ingredients 

• Stand mixer
• Deep fryer preferably with basket
• Large sauce pan
• Zester
• Drying racks, brown paper bags or paper towels
• 3 pounds all-purpose plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• A dozen eggs at room temperature
• ¼ cup butter flavored shortening like Crisco
• Quart of light colored honey
• 3 small or 2 large oranges
• Sprinkles for decoration at the end.
• Oil for fryer

Directions

1. Stephanie recommends making available a large work space for making Struffoli. It is a family and friends type of tradition and having many volunteers will speed the process. 
2. A stand mixer is recommended because the dough required will be very stiff and heavy. 
3. Into a large bowl, add 7 cups of flour. Incorporate the tablespoon of baking powder into the flour. Set aside
4. Into the bowl of the stand mixer, add the room temperature eggs and beat them in the mixer until they become bubbly. You don’t want them to be frothy. 
5. Add your butter flavored shortening and mix it in as well. It is not going to be completely incorporated. You may have some little chunks of shortening throughout and that is fine. 
6. Using a scoop, slowly add the flour into the egg mixture.  At some point you may want to change the stand mixer paddle to the dough hook, because it is going  to be a very thick dough once you get through adding all of the flour. The mixed dough will have the consistency of bread dough. When completely mixed, you will wind up with a sticky dough which you will have to work away from the dough hook. 
7. Spread flour on a large work surface. Place dough on work area and knead the dough until all of the little pieces that have broken away are incorporated. The dough should have a nice sheen and springy texture.
8. Leave the dough on the work surface and cover with an inverted bowl, allowing it to rest for a half an hour.
9. While the dough is resting, zest the oranges. 
10. Get your oil ready in the fryer. Pour it in and heat it up to 400°F.
11. Put the honey in a very large sauce pan on the stove. Don’t warm it up yet. Start the warming process when you are frying the Struffoli balls. Stephanie suggests having a pot large enough to hold all of the cooked Struffoli so that they can all be stirred and coated at the same time. 
12. Break off manageable sections of dough and roll on the cutting board. Don’t flour the board too  much during this process or the dough won’t lend itself to being formed into snakes of dough. Roll from the middle to grow the length of the snake. Strive for uniformity. The whole snake needs to be about ½ inch thick. 
13. Time to engage family and friends, because each snake needs to be cut into ½ inch pieces for frying. Cut the snake into ½ morsels. After you cut them, you want to leave them spread out on a board or a plate so that they aren’t touching. If they touch, they will stick together and you won’t get individual balls. If you have a good number of volunteers and snake rollers, and nugget cutters, one of you can walk over and start up the process of frying. 
14. For frying, you want the oil to be at 400°F. Stephanie uses a fryer that has a basket so that it is easy to get them out. Note: the frying is an adults only process. Keep the children away from the hot oil.
15. Do not overload the basket or the oil will cool down. Be careful when putting them into the fryer as the oil can splash out as well. 
16. As soon as you put the Struffoli into the oil, they will float up to the top. You don’t want them to be touching too much. They will take about 3 to 4 minutes to fry. Turn them over so both sides fry evenly. They should be golden, but not crispy brown. 
17. You will need cooling and draining racks ready to transfer the cooked Struffoli onto. Use either paper towel lined wire racks, paper towels or put into a brown paper bag like Stephanie does.
18. While you are frying, go ahead and warm the honey until it gets runny. At this point, add the zest to the honey, and stir.
19. Toss the fried, drained and cooled Struffoli into the honey and stir them. Once they are all coated with honey, immediately pour them into the serving dish you want to use because the honey will run off. Once it is in the bowl, you can add some sprinkles onto it to make it look festive. Traditionally the balls are arranged in a wreath shape. The honeyed Struffoli will stick to itself. 
20. The fried, drained, and cooled Struffoli freeze well.  When needed, remove them from the freezer, thaw and put them into the warmed honey on the day you want to serve them.  

🌱 Making It Grow is an award-winning program produced by SCETV and Clemson University. Host Amanda McNulty from Clemson Extension along with Clemson Extension Master Gardener State Coordinator Agent Terasa Lott plus other Extension Agents and featured guests offer research-based information on a variety of gardening, agricultural, and environmental topics, while also highlighting interesting places and products from around South Carolina.

🍽️ For more recipes like the one above, visit SCETV Food.