Strufoli from Central Italy. Try them now for their aromatic goodness
It is January, let’s heat the pans for frying as this period abounds with the most beloved children’s celebration: Carnival!
A triumph of delicious fritters for all tastes. From the north to the south of Italy, both simple and filled, there would be enough to write a book and make a list as long as the peninsula itself, plus the islands.
The strufoli from the center, have a particular characteristic: they are soft and full of aromas. We can find them, in Romagna, Marche, Umbria, Tuscany, tinged with red alkermes or glazed with aromatic honey.
The ingredients repeat themselves and, as I often say, they fall into infinite melodies by combining the chords in different ways.
During my stay in Città di Castello, on Lake Trasimeno, I had the fortune to meet wonderful people who gifted me some of their traditional recipes, among them also these colorful strufoli.
Below I also include the link to other Italian specialties dedicated to Carnival, plus the Neapolitan struffoli, which every year make their beautiful presence on Christmas tables, just to understand the difference, not only in the absence of a double letter in the word.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: About 50 Balls
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Carnival
Ingredients
Flour, eggs, and sugar.
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 5 tablespoons Mistrà
- 5 tablespoons Strega liqueur
- 4 tablespoons butter (Melted)
- 1 packet baking powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- lemon zest
- 1 pinch anise seeds (Powdered)
- as needed sunflower oil (For frying)
- honey (As final dressing)
- alkermes (As final dressing)
Tools
A bowl to mix the ingredients, I also recommend a piping bag to make dosage easier, frying pan.
- Frying Pans
- Piping Bags
- Bowls
Steps
In two steps you’ll have top-notch strufoli!
Combine all the dry ingredients, adding the sifted baking powder last, then mix carefully.
Blend the eggs a little and add the liqueurs and melted butter, add to the flour and mix until you obtain a soft and homogeneous mixture; let it rest for an hour and then…
Transfer into a piping bag, cut the bottom to have a width equal to two cm.
Grease the end part of your piping bag, and pinch one dose at a time, letting it fall gently into the hot oil. Otherwise, use two spoons
Let them brown well and transfer onto kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
You can pass them in granulated sugar, honey, or alkermes. Once you taste them, you will be enchanted!
If you have leftovers, store your strufoli:
Until the next day, like most fried foods, they lose their crispness. But they will be excellent and you won’t get tired of eating them. They have a particular aroma that will win you over!
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Can I use powdered sugar?
I recommend granulated sugar or honey
Can I replace Strega liqueur?
You can also use Sambuca
