Carrot Dreams – Sonhos de Cenoura

This is a very typical Christmas pastry in Portugal and there are different possible variations.

The recipe as described bellow was created by my mother and it tastes fantastically!

Pic by docesregionais

Ingredients

1 Kg mashed carrots

200 g powder sugar

200 g wheat flour

30 g baker’s yeast

4 egg yolks

3 whole eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 orange’s zest

Frying oil

Preparation

. mix the powder sugar with the mashed carrots

. add the flour and mix it well

. dissolve the baker’s yeast in warm water and add it to the mix

. add the eggs, the yolks, the zest and the cinnamon

. cover it with a cloth a let it rest until it doubles in volume

. heat up the oil in a pan

. spoon by spoon bring the “paste nuggets” to fry

. turn them continuously until they’re swollen and golden brown

. remove them from the oil with the help of a skimmer

. put them on absorbent paper in order to soak up the remaining oil

Note: after the first 2 to 3 tries you should check if the inside of the “carrot dream” has also been fried. Some people let them burst while frying to make sure they fry inside out.

Enjoy!