Sopapillas

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation 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)

Recipe

• 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.