Hojuelas (Fried Rosettes)

Kitty FloridoSeptember 6, 2018

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Hojuelas, also known as fried rosettes, is one of those recipes that have such a special place in my heart. Both my grandmothers loved to make them and, when I was a kid, being able to actually help them in the kitchen to prepare the recipe was huge. It’s not everyday you can fry something!

This recipe has many different versions, but the one I learned is this basic recipe from the book The Art of Cooking and Serving by Sarah Field Splint, published in 1934. This jewel of a book that not only has over 500 recipes, it also has a section of how to set up a table elegantly as well as set up the buffet table for your guests. This book was given to me by my Grandma Lucy, quite a few years before her passing. It has a very special place in my library, and I specially love all the little side annotations and little paper notes she left inside. My grandma Lucy is the one behind the Magdalena (4 minute cake). Borracho (Rum Cake) and the Torta Pascualina Veggie Pie. And since we lived across the driveway from her, I was always in her kitchen trying to get her let me do anything – specially these!

Now, this is the second set of rosette molds I got. The first ones where from my Grandma Flory, my Pie Queen (Pineapple Pie), but the handle soon lost its magic (and kept getting loose) so she gave me a new set a few years later (new, but in storage for a few years 💛). Both of them used the same basic batter, and they served them exactly the same: with honey! Years later, I figured out you could also eat them with powdered sugar. You can enjoy them either way or serve them with warm maple syrup. They are best right on time when they are fried.

Kitty

Hojuelas (Fried Rosettes)

Recipe from The Art of Cooking and Serving by Sarah Field Splint
Yields about 18-20 rosettes, depending on the size of your iron mold

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
¾ cup of whole milk, room temperature
1 egg
1 tablespoon of melted vegetable shortening
vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Measure and sift the all-purpose flour, salt and sugar.
Slowly add the milk, and mix it well with a whisk. Add the melted shortening and mix thoroughly.
Place the batter in a cup where you can fit the rosette iron in.
Heat the oil in a saucepan up to 365ºF. While the oil gets to temperature, prep your workspace. On a baking sheet, place a few paper towels and a cooling rack on top. Next to it, add a few additional paper towels so you can remove the excess oil from it.
Place the rosette iron in the hot oil for 1 minute, remove from saucepan and lightly tap the iron on the paper towels to remove the excess oil. Dip hot iron into batter about ¾ through, avoiding going over top, or the rosettes won’t release from the iron. Let the excess batter drop back in to the rest batter before frying.
Dip the iron into the hot oil, and after 45 seconds the rosette should release from the iron.
Turn with the help of tongs or chopsticks, and fry until golden brown. Remove immediately the rosette; and invert onto paper towels to cool, with hollow side down.
Dip the iron back into the oil (without any batter) for a few seconds to get its temperature back up and repeat steps 6 and 7 until you go through all the batter.
Serve immediately sprinkled with powdered sugar; sugar and cinnamon; honey; or maple syrup.

Notes:

If the oil is not at the ideal temperature of 365ºF, (either too hot or not hot enough) the batter will stick to the rosette iron and the batter will release too soon from the iron and not forming its shape correctly.

Have you made this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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