Honey balls

Cicerchiate, fried small doughs coated with cooked honey, mixed with chopped nuts and candied fruit, sometimes with colored sprinkles. This shape is formed by mini fluted pan, mine is made of silicon for easier un-molding

I've been going around town these few days for quite many errands, met the same sort of people and seen the same stuffs at stores, I just feel everything so ... so... 'old'. Boy, I'm weird. There are not even 3 weeks past 2007! But good thing is, that feeling discourages me from going crazy on sales.

Good food is timeless, and boundless.

The cicerchiate is balls of fried dough joined into ring shapes by cooked honey. My husband when he was a little boy used to have it on the New Year's eve with his Italian uncle and aunt. My husband spoke no Italian so he called it honey balls. Chinese has our own new year (usually in late Jan or early February), interesting thing is, some of our traditional sweets their preparation and taste are so much alike to cicerchiate, like "smiley dates" (fried round sweet dough) and "crunchy rice" (popped rice grains bound by caramelized sugar). Go try it, it properly brings you a reminiscence of some sort.

On the left, the pre-fried dough. Please note that due to the time spending on photo-taking, the dough has dried up a bit. On the right, I think I cooked the honey too much on the high heat so such a dark color is created.

I mixed candied squash and candied kiwi in this cicerchiate, which are produced in Alimente, Spain

Recipe of Piccole Cicerchiate (yield two mini "towers", about 9 cm in diameter)

• 150 g plain flour
• 1 - 2 tbps mild flavored olive oil
• 1 + 1/2 eggs
• a good dash of sweet wine, like Marsala
• a pinch of salt
• a bit of lemon zest

For binding:

• about 125 g honey of your choice
• 1/4 cup chopped candied fruit
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts of your choice
• colored sprinkles

Procedures:

• In a big mixing bowl, combine flour, oil, eggs, salt, wine and lemon zest, knead well. You should give the dough many rests (cover) between kneadings so that the gluten in the dough has enough time to relax; you will manipulate the dough better. The dough should be tender and slightly moist (not wet).
• Divide the dough into 6 smaller portions, roll each to be a long thin log, about 1 cm in diameter. Again, in between rolling give your doughs a plenty of rest (cover).
• Cut the log into tiny balls, in the size of chickpea.
• Pre-heat 2-inch-deep oil, fry the balls (don't overcrowd) for a few minutes over medium or medium-high heat, adjust the heat from time to time. We aim for slightly golden color. Drain the fried doughs and set them aside.
• In a medium-small pot, cook the honey (watch out, once it gets to boil it will rise up quick and overfill) for a few minutes to thicken up a bit. Skim the foam. Drop the fried balls in and cook for another minute or 2. Mix with candied fruit and nuts. Turn the heat off.
• Pile the honey balls in your desired container, pre-wet by water if yours isn't made of silicon. I let mine totally cool in refrigerator before un-molding.
• Decorate the cicerchiate with sprinkles if desire.

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