Most years, my family spends Christmas Day on Long Island. My aunt Pauline, one of the best cooks I know, prepares a feast that begins with arancini and glazed ham and culminates in a fleet of desserts: bowls of nuts and fruit; trays of colorful Italian butter cookies and cream-filled pastries; and the centerpiece, a platter of struffoli.
Also known as honey balls, struffoli are chickpea-size fried dough balls that have been drenched in warm honey; piled onto a platter or shaped into more elaborate configurations such as a pyramid, cone, or wreath; and embellished with multicolored nonpareils and sometimes confectioners’ sugar, nuts, dried or candied fruit, or cucuzzata (candied pumpkin). A classic Neapolitan treat with Greek roots that’s traditionally served at Christmas, Easter, and other festive occasions, it’s arguably one of the most distinctive, whimsical sweets in the Italian canon.
“I’ve never really had anything that’s like it,” Jack Bishop, America’s Test Kitchen’s chief creative officer, said affectionately of the struffoli his grandmother Katherine Pizzarello made. “The dough is not sweet because there’s a
