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Orellas de Entroido
Orellas de Entroido: crisp Galician carnival pastries shaped like ears, dusted with sugar
Orellas, 'ears' in Galician, are fried for Entroido in villages across Ourense and Lugo, from Laza to Xinzo de Limia, and handed round in big baskets during the carnival days. The thin dough blisters and turns crisp in hot oil, and the pastries are finished with sugar or honey. This version uses a little aniseed spirit (aguardiente), as is traditional, so it contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use orange juice with a pinch of ground anise. Old recipes use pork fat; this one uses butter, so it is vegetarian. A common mistake is rolling the dough too thick, which gives chewy, greasy pastries instead of crisp ones. Chef's tip: roll until you can almost see the worktop through the dough.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the dough
For frying and finishing
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz plain flour, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 pinch salt in a bowl. Add 2 eggs, 1 ¾ oz butter, 3 ½ tbsp whole milk, 2 tbsp anise aguardiente (or orange juice with a pinch of ground anise) and 1 tsp grated lemon zest and mix into a dough.
5 minStep 2: Knead on the worktop for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
40 minStep 3: Divide the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll each out on a lightly floured surface as thin as possible, into a rough oval about 15 cm long.
15 minStep 4: Heat 3 ¼ cups sunflower oil for frying in a deep pan to 350°F, or until a scrap of dough sizzles and rises at once. Hold an oval by one end, lower it in and pinch the centre with a fork as it fries, so it ruffles into an ear shape.
3 minStep 5: Fry for 30–40 seconds a side until puffed, blistered and pale gold. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper. Fry the rest one or two at a time, keeping the oil hot.
20 minStep 6: While still warm, dust generously with 4 tbsp icing sugar or caster sugar. They keep crisp for 3–4 days in an airtight tin.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 300 kcal
- Protein
- 6 g
- Carbs
- 36 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does orellas de Entroido take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 45 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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