Our easy to make recipe to prepare this typical Umbrian sweets in celebration of Carnival despite Covid-19.

Ingredients:

– 5 medium sized eggs
– 5 heaped tablespoons of caster sugar
– 500 g sifted 00 flour + extra if needed
– 1 sachet of baking powder
– 3 heaped tablespoons of Mistrà liqueur
– the rind of one untreated lemon, finely grated
– 5 tablespoons of mild extra virgin olive oil
– 5 heaped tablespoons of milk
– a pinch of salt

For frying:1 litre of peanut oil.
For the garnish: 1 jar of Acacia honey – we like the one from our farm.

Execution:

Place the eggs in a mixing bowl with the sugar and beat them with an electric mixer for a few minutes to obtain a frothy and firm mixture.

In the meantime, put the milk, oil, grated lemon peel, liqueurs and about 2 tablespoons of flour in a bowl and mix with a whisk, obtaining a thick batter (if you want you can also add a pinch of vanilla powder and/or other liqueurs).

Gradually incorporate the sifted flour into the egg mixture, stirring gently from the bottom up with a pastry spatula.

Then add the aromatic batter and incorporate it well into the mixture. Finally, add the baking powder and a pinch of salt and work into a dough until it shows an elastic consistency.

Cover the dough with a warm cloth and leave it to rest for about an hour.

Prepare a frying pan with peanut oil and bring the oil to a medium temperature and, greasing your hands with the seed oil, create small balls and pull them gently vertically with your fingers, carefully putting them in the pan, keeping the oil at a medium temperature to prevent them from browning too quickly and remaining raw inside.

Turn them when necessary and after a few minutes finish cooking, increasing the temperature to give them the right colour. Drain them well and place  them ion a tray covered with absorbing paper towel.

Let them cool down and with a spoon pour some lukewarm honey as if it were raining and… Enjoy!

Tricks & Secrets

Frying Strufoli is certainly the most difficult part: to avoid absorbing too much oil, I recommend that you often give a rotating movement to the pan while they are cooking.

Storage

The product should be stored in a cool, dry place and eaten within 1 or 2 days.