Struffoli, pignolata, cicerchiata, purcidduzzi, and even sannacchiuder(*), many names for this particular Christmas dessert.
Who said we have to abandon our diet or give up sweets at Christmas? Well, it is possible to eat in a somewhat controlled manner and still enjoy some traditional treats. Struffoli, which we will surely find on all Neapolitan Christmas tables, are very diet-friendly especially when baked instead of fried, as the classic Neapolitan recipe would have it. To be honest, I believe even fried ones can be suitable for a diet if fried in an air fryer at the right temperature so that the oil is not overly absorbed.
However, I don’t like frying, and I prefer to play it safe by counting Weight Watchers points, so baked struffoli are ideal for me. After some experimentation, I think I’ve found a good combination of ingredients. The final taste is right, but obviously without the “greasy” taste of fried food. The other diet trick I used is to serve them in single servings: baked or fried struffoli are made to be eaten one after another, but with single servings, this is not possible.
(*) A reader, Antonella, explained to me that in Taranto they are called sannacchiuder (meaning: they must be closed) in the sense that they should be stored because they risk being finished before Christmas since they are so tempting!
Now I’ll explain how I make them and I’ll also leave you with some other typical Neapolitan recipes for Christmas:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10 single servings
- Cooking methods: Oven, Air Frying
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (1 measuring tablespoon)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Strega liqueur (if you don't have it, no worries!)
- 1 1/2 packet baking powder (vanilla flavored)
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 orange (only the grated zest is needed)
- 1 lemon (only the grated zest is needed)
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup wildflower honey
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- to taste candied fruit and sprinkles (preferably the classic diavulilli, as they are called in Naples)
- Points per serving = 2 WW points
Tools
The dough can also be made by hand
- Mixer
- Pan
- Air Fryer
- Muffin Pan
- Baking Cups
Preparation
If using a mixer, use the hook attachment, put all the ingredients for the struffoli in the bowl and mix. Otherwise, if making the dough by hand, place the flour in a fountain on the work surface and mix in everything else: the egg, 2 teaspoons of brown sugar, the oil, the grated orange and lemon zest, the Strega, the baking powder, and the baking soda. Knead well with the mixer or by hand until obtaining an elastic dough, then let it rest covered for about half an hour.
Lightly flour the work surface, take a piece of dough and roll it into a thin, long tube. Cut the tube into pieces about half an inch, rolling them between the palms of your hands to form small balls.
Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spaced apart. If making many struffoli, simply increase all the quantities and at this point get some help, perhaps from the kids who will enjoy making the balls. While preparing all the struffoli, preheat the oven to 480°F.
When all the struffoli are ready, bake them for 5 minutes, just long enough for them to puff up and start to brown: the struffoli should remain soft inside, so they should not overcook. To prevent them from sticking together, bake them in batches; with these amounts, two batches were needed.
Once cooked, place them on a cooling rack to cool.
Here are the struffoli made by Flora with the air fryer. She placed them without overlapping in the basket of her fryer, didn’t use any oil, and cooked them at 400°F for 6 minutes. The cooking time depends greatly on the model of fryer you have. In mine, which is a Philips XXL, I would set it at 350°F for a maximum of 5 minutes.
Place the honey, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of water in a large non-stick pan. Boil over high heat, stirring continuously; you will see foam starting to form: keep cooking until the foam is almost completely gone.
At this point, lower the heat to minimum and pour the cooled struffoli into the hot honey. Mix well for a few minutes so that they are all uniformly coated with the honey.
While the baked struffoli are still very hot, it’s time to shape them on the final plate, so this operation must be done quickly. Traditionally they are piled in a cone or shaped into a donut, but I wanted to make them single servings to avoid eating too many and losing count. So insert baking cups into the muffin pan and pour the still-hot struffoli into the cups: I got about 10-12 struffoli per cup.
All that’s left is to add a few sprinkles and finely chopped candied fruit on top of the struffoli, even better if you are in Naples and can get diavulilli, the classic anise sprinkles to decorate the struffoli: but just a few, I recommend, or the WW points will increase!
Ladies and gentlemen, the tray of struffoli is ready: who wants some? They might be baked, and some people might turn up their noses, but they turned out delicious, and let me tell you: you can even have two servings, you definitely won’t gain weight!
Enjoy and Merry Christmas to everyone!
by Giovanna Buono
Notes
Wanting to give a very trendy look, I also tried making baked struffoli in cake pops version. It wasn’t easy because I had to shape them and skewer them when they were still hot, but if you’re as daring as me, you can certainly try. Of the 6 I made, only one collapsed! But they were all eaten, eh…
These were also made with whole wheat flour and are equally delicious.
