Pignolata with honey

At Christmas every dessert counts, and when it comes to sweets, the Bel paese is unsurpassed! There is no region without its own Christmas dessert and there are many recipes for this festival whose origin is lost in the mists of time, among the recipe books of grandmothers there are sweet secrets handed down by families that still enrich our tables and oven counters. In addition to migliaccio and cassatelle, one of these is Pignolata, a delicacy so good that it combines two beautiful regions in taste: Calabria, where pignolata with honey is widespread, and Sicily, which boasts an even richer version, the glazed pignolata. You can't resist this cascade of sinful morsels whose shape resembles that of a pine cone (from which it takes its name), so if you are far from these tempting lands you just have to get in the kitchen and prepare these sweets yourself, let's start with the Pignolata with honey, garnished with many small colored sprinkles that resemble confetti!

INGREDIENTS

flour 300 g

2 whole eggs plus 1 yolk (total weight 125 gr)

Butter 30 g

Caster sugar 20 g

Grappa 20 g

Lemons zest of 1

Rooms 1 pinch

FOR FRYING

Seed oil 600 g

TO GARNISH

Wildflower honey 160 g

Coloured sprinkles 

PREPARATION

To make the honey Pignolata, pour the sifted flour into a bowl, then add the soft butter cut into small pieces, salt granulated sugar, then flavoured with the grated zest of an untreated lemon and with grappa. Finally, add the two whole eggs and the yolk. Start kneading vigorously by hand. To mix the ingredients, transfer the dough to a floured pastry board. Continue to knead until you get a compact dough to which you can give the shape of a loaf. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. After the resting time, take the dough and divide it into 1 cm wide pieces with a tarot. Roll up each piece to make loaves, cut out small pieces of 1 cm (14-15 cm) from these. Now you can proceed with cooking, heat the seed oil in a pan until it reaches about 170 °C degrees, this is the ideal temperature to obtain a perfect frying, it is advisable to have a food thermometer to be able to monitor precisely. With a slotted spoon, dip a few morsels at a time into the oil, so as not to lower the oil temperature. Fry for about 3-4 minutes then drain the morsels and place them on a tray lined with paper towels to wipe off excess oil. Collect the pignolata in a bowl and pour the honey over it. When the morsels are still warm, stir to combine the honey, transfer the honey pignolata to a serving plate and decorate with the sprinkles colored as desired!

PRESERVATION

They can be stored for 2-3 days under a bell jar. Freezing is not recommended.

ADVICE

Don't like the aroma of grappa in the dough? Just use the same amount of water!