Cooking recipes - How to pestiños?
Have you ever tasted pestiños? This Andalusian sweet, traditional at Easter and other important festivities, dates back to the 16th century, although its origin is probably much older.
Pestiños are usually eaten at Christmas or Easter. In Spain it is traditional to eat them along with other Easter sweets, such as torrijas, leche frita, the traditional Mona de Pascua, and other culinary delights.
How to make homemade pestiños with honey or sugar
Ingredients Andalusian pestiños (fritters):
- 1 glass (250 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 glass (250 ml) of white wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 750 g flour
- Extra virgin olive oil for frying
- Sugar for coating
Steps for making pestiños:
- Put the glass of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan with the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel.
- Fry over a low heat to prevent the oil from burning.
- Let the oil cool, remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick and put the oil in a large bowl.
- Add the glass of wine, the salt and a little flour and mix well.
- We add the flour little by little, at the end we will have to continue kneading with our hands.
- Knead for about five minutes until you obtain a very soft dough.
- This dough is very easy to handle thanks to the oil, it does not stick at all.
- Form small balls by hand, roll out very well with a rolling pin, it should be very thin.
- Join two sides and press the two doughs together well, joining them again, this is very important as otherwise they will open when frying.
- Fry in plenty of extra virgin olive oil until golden on both sides.
- Remove and place on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
- Before they cool, coat them in sugar.
Andalusian pestiños with honey
Ingredients:
- 1/2 small glass of mild olive oil
- A dash of sweet wine
- A dash of sweet aniseed
- 1 tablespoon of aniseed
- 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
- 250 g wheat flour
- 150 g honey
- Water
- Lemon or orange peel
Preparation:
- Put the lemon or orange zest in the oil and remove it when the oil starts to bubble. Then add the aniseed seeds. Turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool completely. Mix the oil with the sweet wine, sweet aniseed, sesame seeds, a pinch of salt and flour. Add the flour little by little, at the end you will have to continue kneading with your hands.
- Knead for about five minutes until the dough is very smooth.
- The dough needs to rest for half an hour. Form small balls by hand, roll out very well with a rolling pin, it should be very thin.
- Join two sides and press the two doughs together well, this is important so that they do not open when frying. Fry in plenty of hot oil and remove on absorbent paper to absorb the excess oil. Prepare a syrup in a casserole with 150 g of honey and three spoonfuls of water, and once it starts to boil, turn off the heat. Dip the pestiños in this syrup, one at a time, using a spoon, and place on a tray. Leave for about two hours to cool completely.
