Honey Sweet Pestino

An ages old recipe from the 16th century. The pestino (pestiño in Spanish) is sometimes covered with sugar but I prefer them with honey.

It combines well with the nutty aroma of the sesame seeds.

Usually made for the christmas season or around holy week. Its crusty texture, the honey, the sesame seeds with a hint of orange zest can be an addictive combination.  

Dough:

1. Bring wine to a boil and remove from stove. Add the roasted sesame seeds and orange zest. Leave to cool completely.
2. Blend flour with baking powder in a bowl (or stand mixer if you have one). Add the oil, wine mix (do not remove sesame seeds) and orange juice.
3. Knead 5 minutes with machine, 10 minutes with hands. The dough should be smooth and elastic.
4. Proof for 30 minutes.
5. Dust a surface with some flour and roll out the dough and fold around 10 times (roll-fold, roll-fold,...) as if you were making puff pastry.
6. The final roll out should leave the dough to a thickness of approximately 3 mm. Cut out 13 x 5,5 cm rectangles. Use extra flour when necessary.
7. Take 2 opposing corners of each rectangle and fold them toward the center.
8. Fry the pestiños at 180°C in arachis oil (or culinary olive oil) until golden brown. Let them drain on paper towel.

Honey Syrup:

1. Blend the honey with the water. Its consistency should be somewhat thicker than oil so that enough of it sticks to the pestino. Adjust the amount of water to the type of honey.
2. Blend well with a whisk.
3. Submerge the warm pestino into the honey syrup, make sure it's all covered.

Some people in Spain use anise liquor in the honey syrup for extra taste. For this recipe replace 2 tbsp of water with the liquor.

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