PURCEDDHRUZZI

Gianpiero says: the dish is typical of the Christmas tradition of Salento, but as a recipe and ingredients recalls so many sweets from different Mediterranean countries, as a demonstration that once we were one folk. My grandmother said that the secret of a good result was the dough, which had to be decided and prolonged. Then I thought that maybe she made my grandfather prepare it only because he had arthritis in his hands.

Ingredients
1 kg flour 00
150 g extra virgin olive oil
100 g pure alcohol
100 g sugar

8 g baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 oranges
10 mandarins
500 ml seed oil for frying
200 ml honey
1 package of coloured small candies to decorate
Preparation
Put the flour in a large bowl. Pour the oil into a saucepan with the peel of an orange and some mandarin, making sure that there are no residues of white part. Let it blend gently over a very low flame so that it does not reach a too high temperature. While the oil is on the stove add the alcohol to the flour; then rub the flour with the palms of the hands so as to distribute the alcohol evenly. Add the baking powder and mix it well with the flour; at this point add the sugar and salt. Add the oil using a strainer to filter the peel of the citrus fruit and mix well. Then add the juice of the oranges and mandarins, do it gradually so as to adjust the amount necessary to obtain a soft dough (the amount may vary depending on the size of fruits).

Place the dough on the table and knead until a smooth and homogeneous dough is obtained. Divide the dough into small pieces and roll each piece into a long and thin loaf. Cut each loaf into small pieces, just under 1 cm, similar to gnocchi. Using your hands form more or less regular balls and place them on a tray. Heat up the oil and fry the purceddhruzzi; once cooked drain them and put them on paper towels. Then melt the honey in a bain-marie and pour a small part of the purceddhruzzi into the honey, mix gently a bit and take them out and place them on the plate where you want to serve them and go on like this until they are finished. Finally decorated with coloured small candies. For the traditional version you can also use the toasted almonds and pine nuts.