Festive New Year's Balls

Here's how:

• 1

  Pour most of the flour, along with the sugar and grated lemon zest, into the food processor bowl. Add the butter in small pieces and crumble the yeast over the top.

• 2

  Heat the milk to 25 °C. Pour the milk over the ingredients in the bowl and knead vigorously until the dough is shiny and smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes. Add the salt and knead for another 5 minutes. Double the time if you’re kneading by hand. 

• 3

  Let the dough rise under a kitchen towel in the bowl until it doubles in size, about 30 minutes.

• 4

  Place the dough on a floured work surface and roll it out. Divide the dough into 40 small balls. Let the balls rise until they’re almost double their size under plastic wrap so they don’t dry out on the surface.

• 5

  Mix all the ingredients for the filling together, then fill a piping bag fitted with a fine tip.

• 6

  Heat the oil to about 170 °C. Deep-fry the balls, 4–5 at a time, for a couple of minutes, until golden brown.  

• 7

  Pipe the cream into the balls and dip them in the chive, sugar, and salt mixture. Prepare them in advance even if you plan to serve them later; they reheat nicely, even with the filling inside.

• 8

  Garnish with chive stalks.