Chilean Sopapillas

Sopapillas are such a great comfort food during cold weather. They make a great snack or even breakfast served with honeybutter, jam, nutella, or any desired condiments. What's the difference between a scone and a sopapilla? I figured it out while living in Chile- true sopapillas get their name from the Zapallo squash, adding the squash to the dough turns them a lovely yellow hue and gives them just a *little* element of health. Zapallo looks like a white pumpkin on the outside, I've never seen them in the states but I've substituted sugar pumpkin, sweet potato, and butternut squash with positive results!

CHILEAN SOPAPILLAS

9 oz zapallo- can use sweet potato, sugar pumpkin, or any orange squash (you want ≈1 1/4 C when mashed)

4 C flour

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs sugar

½ C butter

Cut squash into ½” cubes and boil over med-high heat until soft and easily pierced with a fork, ≈15-20 min. Drain (reserve liquid) and mash with butter. Mix flour, soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in squash mixture and knead dough on lightly floured surface. (add flour or reserved liquid as needed) Cover with a towel and let rest 10 min. Roll dough to 1/8-1/4” and cut into circles with a glass. Poke each one a few times with a fork. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over med-high heat, cook until browned on both sides, 3-4 min. drain on paper towels.

*to decrease fat simply add less butter to the dough

In Chile they eat sopapillas with ketchup and mustard (which I don't recommend), but they also serve them sweet dipped in spiced syrup- it's quite good if you want to try it:

SPICED SYRUP

1 C brown sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

3/4 C water

1 teaspoon cloves

1 whole orange, sliced in 4

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a saucepan, simmer 5 minutes. Strain syrup and keep warm. After draining sopapillas on paper towels dip them in the warm syrup and serve hot with extra syrup on the side.