CHRISTMAS HONEY BUBBLES OR STRUFFOLI

My mother always made honey bubbles at Christmas. One of my favourite treats since I would particularly eat one whole circle myself. It is actually called Struffoli and is a Neapolitan dish. Many people throughout Italy make a variation of it.

INGREDIENTS

Dough- 3-5 cups of flour depending on how the dough holds.

4 large eggs

Tablespoon of butter

Some grated lemon rind.

Some grated orange rind.

Salt to taste.

Honey mixture- 3/4 pound( 300g) honey.

3/4 cup (150 gm) sugar.

13/cup water

Some people will put some pieces of walnut or cherries or candied orange, lemon on top at the finished product. I use Christmas sparkle or sprinkles or whatever you call them.

Added note for the dough-As with any dish that requires eggs and flour, the exact combination may vary with each cook and region. Eggs can be classified in various sizes depending on the country. So use good cook judgement by making sure the dough is firm and held together as well as using your own egg to flour ratio.

DIRECTIONS.

Put all the ingredients for the dough in a bowl and mix then knead and knead until made into a ball.

Let it sit for an hour or more.

Should be stiff.

Take off a piece at a time,  can use your pasta machine to flatten into even pieces then cutting off some and  rolling into long shapes like a skipping rope or snake making it very thin.

Cut the shapes into very tiny pieces. Sometimes a helper comes in handy.

As you are cutting the tiny pieces, the helper can be frying the cut pieces in oil. Olive oil can be used but I use vegetable oil.

Damp dry the oil off the cooked pieces.

For the honey mixture-

Put the honey, sugar and water in a pot, big enough so it can boil safely.

Boil until the foam dies down and the honey starts to turn a yellow colour.

Turn down the heat then add the cooked pieces- bubbles or struffoli.

Stir until it is completely mixed.

I put wax paper on the plate before pouring the mixture.

It is usually shaped into a wreath. Add your own topping. Mine is the coloured sprinkles. If the honey is cooked correctly, the finished product should not be runny. If it is, eat it anyway as the taste remains the same- very good!

You can see the uncooked pieces in the picture. There are two versions of the finished product. Sometimes adding little Christmas items like the Santa in the sleigh gives some festive fun.  I have not made this dish for a couple of years. It is very tedious and requires lots of patience.

For the record this is Post # 50. Again Barb made me do it.
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