Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Stuffoli: An Italian Holiday Dessert

Have you ever seen one of these? It's an Italian Struffoli. I had admired them at Easter time in a gourmet grocery store 3 years ago, but never put one in my cart. The next year, I wasn't in Florida over Easter and I missed my chance. I checked in with their bakery a few times while I was there, but they kept saying "not yet" in a teasing tone, knowing that so many were anxiously awaiting this popular Easter treat. It made me want to try it even more.

The dessert is a large mound of fried dough balls that is soaked in a honey syrup and sprinkled with tiny candy balls. I happened upon a Giada de Laurentiis episode one day and she was making Stuffoli! Here is her Food Network episode.
This year the stars and moon aligned and I was in Florida for the week leading up to Easter, I made it to the grocery store and found a table full of these festive treats all wrapped for the holiday. I would love to bring this to someone as a hostess gift, wouldn't you?

The dessert was unusual - sweet and crunchy. We actually ate it with ice cream and imagined the Struffoli balls as little cream puffs. It was super sweet, but I liked it. Have you ever had Struffoli?

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