Crispy pastries, bathed in honey syrup and flavored with white wine

Pestiños, is the name for the pastries presented in the title. They are usually prepared during Lent and especially during Holy Week (Semana Santa). As is usual with traditional recipes, there are almost as much recipes for pestiños as Spanish villages. Some add the anise seeds, some do not bath them in honey, but sprinkle them with sugar, and some do not prepare them for Lent, but make them for Christmas. Also at issue is their origin - some believe that they originate from Seville whilst others claim that they are from Cordoba. One thing is certain: these are Andalusian pastries, because not hard to notice that they resemble, flavorful and bathed in honey, Arabic sweets.

Ingredients ( for 15 small pastries):

250 g bread flour (I used white spelt flour)

3 g fresh yeast

1 teaspoon cinnamon

125 ml white, dry wine

1 teaspoon anise seeds

pinch of salt

zest of half a lemon or orange

400 ml olive oil

3 cloves

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1 orange

anise seeds

120 ml honey

120 ml water

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the lemon and orange zest and fry for 5 minutes. Then add the cloves and a little bit of anise seeds and fry for another 5 minutes. Remove the oil from the heat and allow to cool. Next, pour it through a strainer to remove the skins and the seeds.

In a bowl mix the flour, crumbled yeast, cinnamon, salt, anise seeds and zest of half a lemon or orange. Add the wine and 40 ml of cooled flavoured olive oil. Knead the dough until smooth and flexible. Put it into a bowl, cover with damp cloth and leave for 30 minutes. After this time, roll out the dough (it should be 2 mm thick) and cut it into rectangles. Next connect two opposite ends of each rectangle.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet or a saucepan and fry the pastries in batches, until golden brown. Put fried pastries on a paper towels to remove the excess of oil.

Meanwhile, prepare the honey syrup. In a frying pan or pot, pour the honey and water. Cook for about 20-30 minutes over medium heat. When the syrup begins to thicken put pastries (in batches) into it and allow them to soaked the syrup for 2-3 minutes. Put the pastries on a plate and allow to cool completely.

Enjoy !!!