Portuguese Christmas Sweet Potato Fritters • Azevias

Directions

1. Always start with the filling because you want it to be cold, or at least at room temperature, when you stuff and fry the azevias.
2. Boil the sweet potatoes with their skins on for about 15 minutes (depending on the size of the sweet potatoes, you can check if they are cooked by piercing them with a fork; if you don’t feel much resistance, then they are cooked), then remove the skins and weigh them to get 350g of pulp.
3. Now mash the potatoes with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest. You don’t need to mash them too much.
4. Put everything in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until everything is well combined, and you have a smooth, homogeneous dough. Remove from the heat and let it cool (if you’re in a hurry, put it in the refrigerator, but it’s best to let it just cool outside, or make this part a couple of hours or on the day before).
5. Now for the dough, place the flour in a mixer (with dough hooks) or food processor, melt the butter and add it to the flour, whisking a little to mix everything together.
6. Add the warm water, brandy, and a pinch of salt, then whisk the dough again until it is well mixed.
7. Remove the dough from the machine, form a ball, wrap it in cling film, and leave it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to rest.
8. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface. I like to put a square of cling film on top so that the dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin.
9. Cut the dough into large circles or rounded squares. Note that you will fold them in half with the filling, which is how the azevia will look. Gather the leftover dough into a ball, roll it out again, and cut it (in my case, it was a hot day, so I put the dough back in the refrigerator for another 20 minutes before rolling it again, so I filled the ones i had and then came back to roll the rest).
10. Now you will fill each azevia. Pour enough filling to fill half of the cut dough, then fold it in half and pinch the edges together to seal the pastry, classic, this dough doesn’t need water to seal.
11. Finally, heat the oil to 160ºC and fry the azevias. Don’t put too many in the fryer at the same time. Fry well on both sides until golden brown (note that the filling is already cooked, so you just need to check the exterior), then remove to paper towels or a rack to drain the oil and dry a little.
12. Finally, while still hot, sprinkle generously with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and that’s it! I hope you like the recipe, and Merry Christmas.