Sopapillas

NorthwestGal's Note:

This recipe comes from the Food Network. The recipe is a favorite throughout South America. Some regions serve these as dessert, but they can also fried until puffy and served as a side dish, like a bread serving, which the extras would then later be sprinkled with cinnamon/sugar or honey and served as a dessert (depending on regional preferences). The sopapillas we had for dessert recently at a Mexican restaurant included the cinnamon/sugar dusting on cooled sopapillas which were then topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream and a touch of strawberry sauce drizzled over the whipped cream. It was delicious! Prep time does not include chilling time.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup warm water, plus more as needed
• peanut oil, for frying
• cinnamon sugar or honey, for serving
• whipped cream (optional)
• strawberry sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening and water, work them in with your hands to make a soft, pliable dough. Add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if the dough feels too dry. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Put the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour so it will firm up a bit and be easier to roll and cut. (Dough can be prepared 1 day ahead, refrigerated.).
2. Unwrap the ball of dough and put on a lightly floured surface, cut in half. With a floured rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a circle, about 1/4-inch thickness. Using a paring knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into triangles as you would a pizza. You should end up with 6 or 8 triangles per circle.
3. Heat 2-inches of oil to 375° in a heavy skillet or deep pot over medium-high heat. (Reduce the temperature to 350° if you prefer a less crispy sopapilla.).
4. Fry a few of the sopapillas at a time, keeping an eye on maintaining the oil temperature. As the sopapillas puff up and rise to the surface, flip them over with a slotted spoon, skimmer, or chopsticks; about 2 minutes on each side. Carefully remove the sopapillas from the oil and drain on several layers of paper towels or a brown paper bag. Cool slightly.
5. Serve hot with cinnamon sugar or honey.
6. Serving Option: If desired, let sopapillas cool, then pipe whipped cream in the center of each sopapilla triangle, and use a spoon to drizzle a bit of strawberry sauce over the whipped cream.

Reviews

[Bayhill]

Oh wow...these were wonderful!! When we lived in El Paso, TX many years ago, we would frequent a restaurant that had the best sopapillas. Since moving away, we were always in search of a restaurant with sopapillas that were as good...no such luck. Well, now I can make them at home whenever we are in the mood for them. Thank you for sharing this delicious, quick, and easy recipe...it is definitely a keeper!
**Made for ZWT 8 Mexico/ Tex Mex "Remember the Alamo Challenge"**

[LifeIsGood]

This recipe goes straight into my best-of-the-best file!! Amazing!! Thanks to your posting of this recipe, my daughter and I were able to re-live our Sante Fe trip, when we would order sopapillas with every dinner (not the healthiest, but hey they are SO GOOD). The recipe was simple to prepare, the directions were written perfectly and the outcome is so darn tasty. We topped our with honey and then a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar. YUM!! Gracias. Made for ZWT8 Mexico/Tex-Mex/SW regions.

[breezermom]

These are totally delicious! I tried to cut the oil and chose not to cut into triangles, but to cook the round dough in a lesser amount of oil in a deep skillet. They didn't puff up as much as deep fried sopapillas, but were delicious anyway! Enjoyed with cinnamon sugar and honey. Made for Photo Tag!