Mexican Family Recipes: Easy and Delicious Holiday Buñuelos

Buñuelos are tortilla-like fritters covered in cinnamon and sugar. These delicious treats are always a hit so make a BUNCH!! The following steps make approximately 2 dozen (I should have made more for the cookie party I went to; I didn't even have any leftovers to bring home...no bueno!). Anyways, read on and pay attention to my "secret" ingredient... ;)

I bought this white flour tortilla mix at a local Mexican market grocery store. To make 2 dozen you mix 4 cups of the mix with 1 cup of WARM water (I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of water extra...you want to the dough soft enough to knead.)

Knead the dough for 5 minutes then cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough into separate balls. If you were making tortillas, you would make a ball for each tortilla in the size of your choice.

In this case, I used LARGE holiday themed cookie cutters on the rolled out dough.

I used gingerbread man and Christmas tree shapes. The gingerbread men came out looking kinda funny. But it's always fun to bite their heads off. :D

This is what they look like before they get fried!

I heated up some vegetable oil over medium-high heat. I used enough oil so that each buñuelo would be submerged just barely (so the amount depends on the size pot you use). I tested the oil's heat by dipping the end of a buñuelo.

Poor gingerbread man! I fried for about 10 seconds on each side sometimes using the spatula to flatten them out. This gingerbread man was looking pregnant at one point. Oh, and cover a plate with some paper towels to set the freshly fried fritters on.

Make sure you have a container ready with a white sugar and cinnamon mix. After the buñuelos are done frying they get tossed in this sweet concoction. Now....here's my secret ingredient: honey. I LIGHTLY DRIZZLE some honey on the buñuelos (I do one side only) before I coat them in the sugar and cinnamon mix.