Sicilian Holiday Recipes

Today’s Christmas treats are brought by Lora of Cake Duchess. I’ve been known Lora since I start blogging and she never cease to amaze me with her creativity. She’s very creative in her baking, but our love for homemade bread is what made us close friends. With recipes like “No knead dinner rolls” , “Marbled chocolate brioche”  and a step-by-step sourdough starter, she’ll sure win your attention in no time.

Hello, everyone! I am Lora and it is a thrill to be guest posting today for my dear friend, Roxana. Roxana was one of the first people I met through my food blog. She is an incredible baker with a huge heart. I hope to one day meet her in person and have a taste of one of her stunning layer cakes or pretty breads.  Roxana asked me to share a holiday recipe for her #25recipestoXmas series. I couldn’t think of any better holiday recipe to share than these Sicilian honey balls (pignolata). My father is from Sicily and I spent many years there as a child and an adult.

Pignolata is one of the most popular southern Italian sweets made for Christmas. It’s a Sicilian dessert but it is also common in Calabria.  It used to be made in Sicily during Carnevale, but is now also made during Christmas. Pignolata show up all over Sicily under different names: pignocata, pagnuccata, pignolata. You may be familiar with them being referred to as struffoli and can find them in pastry shops at Christmas time. It is important to use good honey when making them and also the right amount.  It’s also important to make them the right size so you can enjoy the honey glaze more.

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Roxana has a passion for all things food, a sweet tooth that can’t be tamed and a severe case of the wanderlust

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With an audience in search for real food and no fuss recipes, I make midweek meals exciting sharing approachable recipes, both sweet and savory, that taste completely sinful.This traditional Sicilian pignolata recipe is simple and so easy to make with only 7 ingredients! Also known as honey balls, this classic Sicilian dessert is a must on Christmas Eve. Check out my instructions for a variation on the common ball shaped pignolata and transform this dough into lovely braided rings just like my nonna used to make!

Christmas Eve is simply not complete without pignolata for dessert. Pignolata is a classic Sicilian dessert also known as honey balls. It consists of fried dough balls drenched in honey with a crisp texture on the outside and tender on the inside. Just like eating chips, it’s hard to stop after only one bite!

There are without a doubt countless pignolata recipe variations found throughout Sicily. One of these includes the one my cousin in Sicily shared with me here made with semolina flour, grappa and even cinnamon. Although not traditional, semolina flour offers great texture and cinnamon and grappa add a distinct flavor to this pignolata recipe.

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So I’ll call my cousin’s recipe the modern pignolata recipe since I was clearly informed by my mother that this is not the traditional recipe of her youth. The pignolata that my nonna prepared was much more simple and made with few ingredients. As my mom told me countless times, who had grappa back in Sicily when she was a child?

But more important, my mom recalled how my nonna prepared braided pignolata rings. Certainly not very common, however this lovely braided pignolata is beautiful and has a wonderful crisp and flaky texture. I’ll show you further below in this post how to prepare it.

And so after much recipe testing along with my mother’s help, here is the traditional pignolata recipe I am sharing with you. First, let me tell you why you need to try out this recipe!

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The following are step by step instructions with images to guide you through this recipe. Please scroll to the end of this post for the detailed, printable recipe card.

Use a fork to beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients until a raggedy dough is shaped.

Transfer to your counter and knead until a smooth dough is formed, a minute or two. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

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Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll into long ropes (as you would for making gnocchi) of about 1 cm thickness. Cut into 1 cm pieces. Leave the pieces as is or if you prefer, roll into a ball.

Use a pasta maker to flatten dough until second to last setting. If the dough is slightly sticky, dust with flour. Cut into strips approximately 22 cm x 5 cm wide. Cut each strip lengthwise in 3 equal pieces without cutting through to the end.

Heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil (canola or sunflower oil also work well) on medium-high heat in a heavy bottomed pan or your fryer. To test if the oil is hot, place a pignolata piece in the oil. If the oil immediately sizzles and bubbles around the pignolata you’re ready to fry!

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Fry the pignolata in batches without overcrowding your pan for 1-2 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a paper towel covered tray to absorb any excess oil.

Once coated in the melted honey, place pignolata balls in a mound or shaped into a wreath on a serving platter and top with colored candy sprinkles.

This recipe will make approximately 40 braided pignolata rings. Try dividing the dough in half and make half a batch of traditional ball shaped pignolata and 20 braided pignolata rings.

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Quite honestly pignolata is best eaten the day you prepare it. It tends to harden as the days go by. Leftovers are best kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

If you wish to prepare pignolata in advance, after it is fried and before coating with honey, freeze the pignolata pieces in a well sealed container or freezer bag for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature for 1-2 hours and toss with warm honey before serving.

If you give this recipe a try, let me know how much you enjoyed it by rating it in the recipe card below. Feel free to Pin it for later. Buon appetito!

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This traditional Sicilian pignolata recipe is simple and so easy to make with only 7 ingredients! Check out my instructions for a variation on the common ball shaped pignolata and transform this dough into lovely braided rings just like my nonna used to make! This classic Sicilian dessert is traditionally served on Christmas Eve. 

How long does pignolata keep for? Quite honestly pignolata is best eaten the day you prepare it. It tends to harden as the days go by. Leftovers are best kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Can pignolata be frozen? If you wish to prepare pignolata in advance, after it is fried and before coating with honey, freeze the pignolata pieces in a well sealed container or freezer bag for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature for 1-2 hours and toss with warm honey before serving.The Christmas dessert table would not be complete without Sicilian Pignolata, also known as honey balls. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, these tasty little bites are drenched in sticky, sweet honey!

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Depending on what region of Italy you are from, you may call these struffoli, cicerchiata, turdilli or in North America, Italian honey balls. The recipe will vary with the addition of different types of flavorings including alcohol (or none at all), lemon or orange zest, honey or even simple syrup.

However, the basic concept of frying little dough balls and covering them with a sweet syrup remains the same throughout different regions in Italy. They may be served during the Christmas holidays, Carnevale in the month of February or even Easter.

For me, this is Sicilian Pignolata and will always be a Christmas tradition. There are a few other typically Sicilian sweets that are a must for special occasions and holidays such as:

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During the holidays, each of my aunts had her own Christmas specialty and pignolata was my mother’s sister’s tradition. Unfortunately that ended when my aunt passed and my mother didn’t have that recipe. I recalled that my cousin in Sicily made us pignolata during our last trip to Sicily. So I decided to give her a shout and ask her for her recipe.

Imagine my surprise when she listed ingredients such as semolina, cinnamon and grappa!I verified this with my mother and just as I suspected, the pignolata recipe had definitely evolved throughout the years. Although my mother did not remember the