ITALIAN HONEY RECIPES

Steps:

• Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, aniseseed and salt. Stir in eggs and milk. Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Shape into a disk; wrap and let stand 1 hour., Divide dough into 6 portions. Roll each portion into 1/2-in.-thick ropes; cut crosswise into 1/2-in. pieces. In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 350°. Fry pieces, a few at a time, for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Place dough pieces in a large heatproof bowl and keep warm in a 200° oven., In a large heavy saucepan, combine honey and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil 1 minute. Immediately remove from heat and drizzle over dough pieces. Stir to coat. Immediately spoon into prepared cups. Sprinkle with pine nuts and, if desired, nonpareils.

Steps:

• In a large bowl add sieved flour, softened butter, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest. Mix with your hands until you get crumbly texture.
• Add 2 beaten eggs, mix again until the dough comes together. Knead with your hands for a couple of minutes. As a result you should have a compact ball of dough.NOTE: If the dough is too hard to knead add a tablespoon of warm milk or water. If it’s too loose, add some more flour.
• Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
• Once the dough is rested, lightly flour the work surface. Cut off a piece of dough and roll it with your hands into ? inch thick rope. Then cut the rope again into ? inch pieces.
• At this point you can leave the dough “pillows” as they’re, slightly irregular shape, or you can pass each piece quickly between the palm of your hands giving it a round shape.
• Preheat vegetable oil for frying in a deep pan to 340F (170C) - perfect temperature for frying.
• Make sure to heat the oil on medium heat and use enough of it so that the dough balls float and not touch the bottom of the pan.If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer you can test if the oil is hot enough by simply deeping one ball once you think the oil is hot enough. If it starts to sizzle almost immediately and come up floating, the oil is good to go.Attention: Oil should NOT be smoking or burning.Reduce the heat to low or medium low once it reached the perfect temperature.
• Deep pignolata dough in preheated oil, small portions at a time to prevent the oil from cooling too much. Fry for approx 4-5 minutes stirring continuously. Once ready discard fried dough on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
• Once all the dough is fried, transfer it in a deep bowl and top with honey. Mix well.
• Arrange on a plate forming a ring shape or a pinecone shape. Decorate with sugar sprinkles and lemon zest.