Of course we couldn’t miss the fantastic bolina pumpkin fried cakes, I remember my grandmother Mamie making these cookies in absolutely industrial quantities, she would make a huge pile a week before Christmas and there would still be a pile of cakes for New Year’s Eve, the cookies are dense, creamy and sweet, the pumpkin flavor perfectly cuts through the sweetness of cinnamon and sugar, they are fantastic little fried cakes and super traditional at Christmas in Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Matosinhos in the north of Portugal.
Note that the recipe is vague on the quantities on purpose, as it depends a lot on the pumpkin, sometimes the pulp is wetter or instead of 2kg you have 1.8kg or you have 2.1kg, sometimes you will add more and sometimes less, depending on what you have you will have to taste the dough and feel it and adjust according to your taste, yes it is the kind of recipe that you will have to make a couple of times until you make it perfectly, also read the tips to help, so let’s get to the recipe and Merry Christmas!
Portuguese Squash Fried Cakes • Bolinhos de Abóbora Bolina
Savor the delightful taste of Portuguese Squash Fried Cakes, or Bolinhos de Abóbora Bolina, where sweet, tender squash is perfectly blended with spices and herbs and fried to golden Christmas perfection ;D
Ingredients
- Butternut Squash – 2kg (Raw)
- Eggs – 2
- Water – As needed
- Sugar – As much as needed
- Corn Starch – 2 to 4 Tablespoons (Maizena)
- Pine Nuts – To Taste (Crushed or Almonds)
- Port Wine – 1 Tablespoon
- Oil – As needed (I used Sunflower)
- Cinnamon – 1 stick
- Cinnamon – To taste for sprinkling
- Sugar – To taste for sprinkling
- Salt – A pinch
Directions
- Start by peeling the pumpkin and cutting it into cubes. Boil it in a pan with plenty of water, a pinch of salt and a stick of cinnamon.
- Once cooked, drain the pumpkin and put it in a cloth, tie the cloth tightly and hang it over the kitchen tap, over a bucket, as long as it’s suspended, it will release all the water, leave it to drain for at least a whole day, the drier the cooked pumpkin, the better.
- The next day squeeze the cloth with the pumpkin a little, you want to get rid of the excess water, but you don’t need to squeeze too much, you still want the pulp to have a certain amount of moisture.
- In a large bowl, add the drained pumpkin pulp, followed by 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of port wine and a couple of tablespoons of sugar, knead well, then add a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch and knead again, finally add the finely chopped pine nuts, mix again, taste the dough and adjust the salt and sugar, the texture should be between soft and hard, like playdough.
- Heat the oil and then create balls or strips of dough and fry until golden brown, then drain on absorbent paper.
- While they’re still hot, pass them through a plateful of sugar and cinnamon (4 tablespoons of sugar to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon), then place them on a serving platter. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!
Like i said, these last a long time, my family used to make a huge batch like a few days before Christmas and we would have them until almost new years 😀 But they used to left them out, i would say put them in a plastic box with some absorbent paper and save them in the fridge, it’s safer.
This recipe for Portuguese Squash Fried Cakes • Bolinhos de Abóbora Bolina was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Fritos de Bolina à Moda da Mamie foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.
Nutrition
2491 calories; 120 g fat; 350 g carbohydrates; 39 g protein.Did you try this recipe?
Let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below ;D
