UI Press Presents: Honey, I'm Homemade

Do you like honey? What's not to, right? It's gooey, it's fragrant, it's nourishing, and those amazing little creatures known as honey bees make it. I recently received a copy of our own University of Illinois Press's new book filled with honey lore and recipes (it's really a cookbook), so naturally, I wanted to try a recipe from the book and share.

The book's subtitle is "sweet treats from the beehive across the centuries and around the world," and it includes chapters on drop cookies, bar cookies and brownies, rolled cookies, breads and muffins, pies and puddings, and cakes. When I saw, in the Rolled Cookies section, recipes for two Italian sweets that have been mentioned in my beloved Inspector Montalbano novels, I knew I had to try one of those.

The two sweets in question are struffoli (Italian honey balls, as they're called in the book) and mostaccioli (mustache) cookies. I decided to go with the struffoli because that recipe called for the most honey. And not just any honey; it was noted that "orange blossom works well." Thus, one week at farmers' market I procured a bottle of exactly that from the very nice fella at the Campbell Apiaries stand (I'm sure you've seen or bought from him if you go to the Urbana market at all).

You can see the recipe in the photo. It worked out quite well. The struffoli are not real sweet, despite being bathed in melted honey (and orange zest). Because they're deep fried before taking their honey bath, the outside of the balls is quite crispy. The inside is kind of like a cake doughnut. I discovered that struffoli are very nice with coffee.

May Berenbaum, the editor of Honey, I'm Homemade, will be doing a book signing at Urbana's Market at the Square this Saturday, October 30, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., so if you're interested in this book, stop by, pick one up, and say hello. You can also get the book on the UI Press Web site and on Amazon.