Pestiños

The story

Pestiños are thin squares of olive oil and white wine dough, scented with anise and lemon, folded corner to corner, fried until crisp and then dipped in warm honey or rolled in sugar. They are an Andalusian sweet with Moorish roots, and Spanish food writers trace the honey, the anise and the habit of frying dough to the centuries of Muslim rule in the south. Today they are made in Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha at several points in the year, mainly Christmas, Carnival and Holy Week. In Córdoba and across Andalusia they are one of the expected Holy Week sweets, made alongside torrijas; in 2027 Holy Week runs from March 21 to March 28. The usual shape is a square or rectangle with two points pressed together in the middle, which some cooks compare to a folded handkerchief, and families argue over whether honey or sugar is better. A related sweet, chebakia, is fried and soaked in honey in Morocco during Ramadan. Pestiños keep for a week in a tin, so fry a batch early in Holy Week and set them out with coffee after the Good Friday meal.