My mother's diples

Diples (dipla in singular) are Greek traditional Christmas sweets!

 I still remember how my brother and I would sneak into the dining room (mom's dessert vault) to "steal" diples!!

Mom always made huge quantities of these delicate sweets and gave them away as presents to friends and family!

For me the successful dipla must be thin (almost transparent), crispy and bathed in good thyme honey.

For this recipe we will need a pasta maker. This device will ensure a thin and uniform sheet.

Ingredients:

5 large eggs

3 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 tablespoon ouzo

300g strong flour 

200g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Plenty of fifty-fifty mixture of olive and sunflower oil 

1 kg  quality honey

About 1/2 cup water

Ground walnut 

Mix flour and salt.

We beat the egg yolks in the mixer with the ouzo and a teaspoon vanilla for 15-20' at high speed until they become frothy.

Transfer the fluffy mixture of the yolks to another bowl and in the bowl of the mixer (without washing it) beat the egg whites with the two teaspoons of vanilla at medium to high speed until they are frothy, not too much to be able to mix them.

We combine yolks and whites lightly.

Pour the flour into the mixture in 2 portions and knead with the mixer or by hand until a very tight dough is achieved.

We cover the dough with cling film and let it rest at room temperature for at least an hour.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. We cover the dough that we are not using with film because it dries out.

We roll out our dough with the rolling pin into a long, narrow oval shape that is wide enough to fit into the pasta machine.

We run it through the widest setting of our pasta maker (level 1). If we see that the dough stretches too much, we roll it again. We always want our sheet to come out omogeniusly flat.

We continue to run the dough through the pasta roller each time thinner.

I open it up to 7th level and my device has 9 thickness settings.

If the sheet becomes too long, we cut it in half.

Spread the sheet on a clean table and cut it with the appropriate tool into strips of 4.5cm width and 20cm in length (if cutting parallelograms, the distance between the 2 outer tips will be 30cm).

Heat enough oil in a narrow but deep saucepan (we should be able to submerge the whole dipla in it). The oil should be heated to 180° - 190°C and held at this temperature throughout the frying process. If we see that it is getting too hot, we just take the pot off the heat to lower the temperature. It is good to use a thermometer that will help us check the temperature quickly.

In my own kitchen, after the oil is heated to the ideal temperature, I leave at medium heat and I can say that it keeps the oil at the temperature I need. Of course, I have to take the pot off the heat a few times.

We dip the edge of the strip into the hot oil and with the help of a cooking fork we twist the dough slightly to achieve a dipla that is not too tight. When the dough has hardened, take the fork out from the side and simply dip it into the hot oil to fry (we don't want it to brown too much). When it is ready, we place it on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.

We cover the strips that are cut on the table with clean towels while they wait because they dry easily.

Syrup:

In a narrow and deep pot, we heat the honey slightly with a small amount of water.

Dip the diples for a few seconds in the hot honey. Drain by lifting them with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.

If we see that the honey dries too much during the process, we add some water and we stir. 

Sprinkle plenty of grated walnut.