Pastelitos de boniato (sweet potato pastries)

 

Citrusy sweet potato-filled pastries with a signature pastry made with avocado and aniseed liquor.


Hola!

Today I bring you a typical Valencian sweet treat: my vegan version of sweet potato pastries. They are made of a surprising wholewheat flour and avocado pastry infused with aniseed liquor, and a citrusy white sweet potato paste sweetened with maple syrup. A truly Valencian sweet made vegan and healthier!

You don’t realise how rich your regional cuisine is until you leave your hometown. Every day I keep coming up with classic recipes from Valencia (Spain), and which I am honoured to veganise. 

The aniseed-flavoured sweet potato pastries are commonly found in villages bakeries and traditional bakeries in Valencia. In Valencian we call them pastissets de moniato. The literal translation would be “sweet potato little cakes”, which doesn’t make much sense in English.

PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!

I have lost track of how many sweet potato pastries recipes I have looked at, and all of them were different. Some of them, the most traditional ones, use pork lard. This is also used in Christmas sweets like mantecados and polvorones, and it gives a fatty and moist texture to the pastry. Some other recipes called for enormous amounts of oil. I understand that to make pastry you need a source of fat, which tends to be butter or oil. I thought I could use avocado, since it has a better nutritional value than oil (1000 calories in 125ml of oil versus 300 calories in one avocado: saving you 700 calories. You’re welcome). I had seen avocado as an oil swap suggestion, but I have never used it myself. I decided to give it a go, and voilà, it worked! 

I also replaced some of the white flour for fine wholewheat flour. The key is using fine wholewheat flour, which is much better for baking than plain wholewheat flour, which tends to be chunky and doesn’t rise that well. The baked pastry is chewier than if you use 100% white flour, but the extra fibre is worth it! These are the kind of decisions I make because I follow a whole foods plant-based diet, and I always look for ways to make recipes healthier.

Once the pastry was veganised, the filling was already vegan. I used maple syrup, which gives a more natural sweetness. The lemon zest brings a nice citrusy twist. I don’t know why but the filling is always made with white-flesh sweet potato. Maybe it was the only available sweet potato back then in Spain? I found it in my fruit shop, and it has a pinkish peel. I’m confident that the regular orange-flesh sweet potato will be just as fine to make the paste.

For the glaze, we won’t be using an egg wash. A mix of soya milk with maple syrup will do the job.


PASTELITOS DE BONIATO (SWEET POTATO PASTRIES)


Makes: 9 pieces
Prep: 1 hour 30 minutes
Bake: 1 hour 5 minutes


INGREDIENTS

Filling
400g white sweet potato
1 lemon, zest only
1/4 cup maple syrup

Pastry
1 medium ripe avocado (mine was 170g)
1/4 cup +1 tbsp. aniseed liquor (75ml), Anís del Mono or Pastis
1 tbsp. caster sugar
250g flour (1/2 cup fine wholewheat + 3/4 cup white flour)

Glaze
1 tbsp. sweetened soy milk
1/2 tbsp. maple syrup

Sprinkle
1/2 tbsp. caster sugar
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. To make the filling, wash, dry and prick the sweet potato on all sides with a fork. Bake in a preheated the oven at 200°C for about 45 minutes or until very soft and let cool down. Peel the sweet potato and smash the flesh with a fork in the bowl. We want a smooth mixture but not a puree. Add the lemon zest and maple syrup and mix. Taste it and adjust sweetness. Keep in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.
  2. For the pastry, peel the avocado, cut it in chunks and put it in a bowl. Add the aniseed liquor and sugar and blend with a hand blender until there are no lumps left. Add both types of flour and mix until you can make a ball with the pastry
  3. Preheat the oven at 180°C. Divide in 9 parts and make a ball with each. Put ball by ball over a piece of baking paper and fold the paper to cover it (it’s a sticky dough). Flatten the ball up with your hand first and roll out with a rolling pin to make a round shape.
  4. Put 1 + 1/2 tbsp. of filling in the centre of the circle, wet the edges with your fingers to help seal it and close. Press slightly but don't crimp the edges. The pastry falls onto the filling barely covering it and meeting the bottom half.
  5. Brush each of them with the glaze and sprinkle immediately with a bit of the sugar and cinnamon mix (leave some for later), and bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with some more after they cool down.

You can keep them at ambient for up to 3 days, but they are enjoyed better fresh out the oven.

Bon profit!