DISH RESEARCH · Dessert
Struffoli Napoletani
Also known as: Struffoli
Caffè Gambrinus’s selected Neapolitan struffoli fry their own egg-and-citrus dough in sunflower oil. A separate wildflower-honey-and-sugar coating gathers the balls, with candied fruit optional and coloured sprinkles above.
About Struffoli Napoletani
Research draft based on the references below. These notes describe particular recipes and presentations; ingredient connections are still being reviewed.
Stefano Avellano and Massimiliano Rosati’s struffoli follow the recipe of Naples’s Caffè Gambrinus. Small fried dough balls are gathered in a honey-and-sugar coating with citrus zest and a colourful candied-fruit finish.
Flour is made into a well with salt, sugar, baking soda and cubed butter. Eggs and egg yolks are worked in before the selected anise liqueur and lemon and orange zest form a smooth dough.
The covered dough rests, then portions roll into thin cylinders and are cut into small pieces. These fry in sunflower oil in small batches, rounding as they cook and becoming golden before draining on paper towels.
A separate mixture of wildflower honey and sugar is warmed to a boil, taken off the heat and cooled before lemon and orange zest are added. Diced candied orange can join it before the fried balls are stirred in and coated.
The cooled, coated struffoli move to a serving dish with coloured sprinkles and the selected candied fruit. GialloZafferano places the dessert on Neapolitan Christmas tables and also notes versions that omit candied fruit.
Ingredients in Struffoli Napoletani
Recorded ingredient connections, rather than a complete recipe. Explore an ingredient for more detail.
- Butterbase
- Sugarsweetener
- Saltseasoning
- Vegetable Oilcooking medium
- Honeysauce
- Candied Fruitgarnish
- Sugar Sprinklesgarnish
- Wheat flourbase
- Eggbinder
Ingredient connections awaiting review. Versions and preparation vary.
Origins & food traditions
Explore the countries and cooking traditions associated with this dish. These connections do not establish a single birthplace or limit where the dish is eaten today.
Countries
Cuisines & regions
Associations in the cited sources
These describe source-specific cultural or geographic connections. Catalogue links may still need review.
- Countries & places
- Italy
- Cooking traditions
- Neapolitan-style