Name: Hojuelas
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 cups flour (300g); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 3 beaten eggs; 1/2 cup sugar (50g); 2 teaspoon water; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 7 teaspoons neutral oil (plus more for frying); 1/2 cup water (100 ml); 1/4 cup orange blossom water (50 ml); 1/2 cup sugar (100g); 1/2 cup powdered sugar (50 g); 1/4 cup sesame seeds (30 g)

Hojuelas

This dish takes us on a long journey from Spain to Argentina. All Sephardim are familiar with these rolled thin strips of pastry that are quickly fried and deliciously covered in sugar or with syrup. Though they are known under many names (fijuelas, fazuelos, hojuelas), their characteristic shape is always undeniably reminiscent of Esther’s Megillah, the scroll read during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is when hojuelas are traditionally prepared. Nowadays, Sephardim prepare hojuelas for Purim and also Yom Kippur.

Hojuelas

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

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Servings

Ingredients

2 cups flour 300g
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 beaten eggs
1/2 cup sugar 50g
2 teaspoon water
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 teaspoons neutral oil plus more for frying
1/2 cup water 100 ml
1/4 cup orange blossom water 50 ml
1/2 cup sugar 100g
1/2 cup powdered sugar 50 g
1/4 cup sesame seeds 30 g

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine, flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, water, salt and 7 teaspoons oil and mix with a spoon.
Finish mixing with your hands. The dough should be smooth, without lumps. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and cool in fridge for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle flour on work surface and roll out the dough. It must be thin and not sticky. Cut strips 1 generous inch (3 cm) wide and about 15 inches (40 cm) long.
In a deep pot or deep fryer, heat oil over medium heat. Take a strip of dough in your hand. Insert the tines of a fork into one end of the strip, and put the fork in the oil to cook this portion of the strip while keeping the rest out of the pan. Small bubbles will form on the dough. Every two seconds, gently turn the fork to roll up a little more of the strip, and fry that portion. Continue like this until the entire strip of dough has been wrapped around the fork and fried.
Set aside and continue in the same way for all hojuelas.
Prepare the syrup: place water, orange blossom and sugar into a pan. Stir over low heat for 5 minutes. The mixture should remain very liquid and transparent. Individually place each cooked jojuelas into the syrup pan and tilt the pan so the syrup covers the it completely, being careful not to break them before placing on a serving dish.
Place sesame seeds and powdered sugar on 2 separate plates, and dip one side of each hojuela into one or the other alternately.