Bunuelos

My Nana and I use to do these every Christmas together. I remember making the flour tortillas first, rolling them out and then having her tell me how to make the syrup. It was tradition. Her and I stood at the stove for about 3+ hours making these delicious crispy tortillas. We always started with one stick of sugar and added water and orange juice as we went. It was a science and before her passing I wrote it down. The last few years before she got sick we took a genius short cut. We used raw already made tortillas. Oh how this cut down on the time it took to make them. If you want to make your own tortilla from scratch go right ahead! My niece Ollie and I where in charge of making these awesome crispy bunuelos this year. And I must say they came out perfect. Her and I stood at the stove for close to 2 hours and we where tired for sure, but it was well worth it!

What you will need:

1. 4 pin Piloncillos (sugar cone)
2. a large orange
3. about 16 cloves
4. 2 dozen raw tortillas
5. 1/4 cup of water / piloncillo (you will add this a little at a time)

Prep:
Layout the tortillas so that they dry out a little. This way they do not pop some much in the hot oil.
In a big pot start to melt down the sugar. We did it one sugar cone at a time. You add the sugar, squeeze 1/4 of the orange and cut up the Rhine and add it, 4 cloves, and 1/4 cup of water. While this begins to melt down (on medium heat, be careful not to burn the sugar) you will add another cone of sugar and repeat the process until you have melted down all 4 of the sugar cones. This will take about an hour.

Once you have the last cone half way melted start heating your oil in a un-coated pan. Once you are ready you will fry the tortilla until golden brown, drain the oil and hand off to have the syrup poured over the hot tortilla, stack to cool. *we usually only put syrup on one side.

Melting down the sugar

Syrup ready

Frying the tortillas

Ollie and me; Ollie did a great job!

Pouring the hot syrup on the hot tortilla.

Here's to some good food!