Buñuelos de Viento is an airy round fried dough that is traditionally coated lightly with a cinnamon-sugar mixture or drizzled on top with a homemade syrup. When frying the Buñuelos, they will fill with air and flip on their own in the frying pan, creating an airy and light texture. This is the part that I enjoy watching when frying the Buñuelos.
When I went to New Orleans, I had a beignet at Cafe du Monde, and it reminded me of our Buñuelos de Viento due to its airy and light dough texture. However, the beignets were shaped into a square and coated with powdered sugar.
The Buñuelos originated in Spain – specifically by the Moriscos – a moorish (muslim) population that converted to Christianity. They flavored the Buñuelos with honey or anise.
Preparing the Dough for Buñuelos de Viento!
In the saucepan, add water, salt and sugar.
Add the margarine made with olive oil and stir. You can use butter if you so desire.
Bring to a quick boil.
Once the water starts boiling, turn off the induction cooker or stove before adding flour to the saucepan.
Rapidly stir the dough for approximately 3 to 5 minutes until the dough holds together. It is important that you stir the dough for this duration.
When the dough has a smooth texture, the dough is ready. The dough should have the appearance of mashed potatoes.
If you can lift the dough with a spoon, and it does not stick to the bottom of saucepan, then this is another method to determine if the dough is ready.
Incorporating the Eggs into the Dough!
We are ready to add the eggs but one egg at a time. This is very important. Place the first egg into the saucepan.
Stir rapidly until the egg is fully incorporated into the dough. Initially, the dough will appear like noodles as you stir. Stir the egg for approximately 2 minutes.
Once the egg is mixed well into the flour mixture, you will then add another egg to the saucepan.
Add the second egg to the flour mixture.
Stir rapidly until the second egg is fully incorporated into the dough. As you can see, the flour mixture has a smoother consistency.
After adding the first two eggs individually, the flour mixture still does not have the right cake batter consistency. Therefore, you will need to add two more eggs. It is very important to stir them one by one as instructed above.
We definitely achieved the cake batter consistency when incorporating the last two eggs into the batter. The dough is ready.
Frying the Buñuelos de Viento!
Heat oil in a skillet to 365°F. Grease a melon baller. Fill the melon baller with the flour mixture.
Release the dough mixture from the melon baller into the frying skillet.
When the buñuelos fill with air, they start flipping on their own. This is when you know your dough is perfect. If you look closely at the video (below), some buñuelos will flip several times.
Remove from frying pan when the buñuelos are lightly golden on both sides. See how they puffed up! Place them a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Checking the Consistency of a Buñuelo After Frying!
After frying the buñuelos, you can see that they have an airy and light texture.
Preparing the Homemade Syrup!
In a saucepan, add water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and lemon peel. Cook over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes or until the sugar has melted.
Once the sugar has melted, set the saucepan aside to cool. Remove cinnamon sticks and strain the liquid to avoid any lemon peel mixed with the liquid.
Coating the Buñuelos de Viento with Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture!
Dust lightly the Buñuelos with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Arrange the cinnamon-sugar coated Buñuelos in a bowl.
Pouring the Homemade Syrup on top of Buñuelos de Viento!
Drizzle the syrup mixture on top of the buñuelos.
Buñuelos served in a bowl with homemade syrup.
Filling a Buñuelo with Melted Chocolate for Valentine’s Day!
With a knife, make a small slit to the buñuelo.
Fill a drizzler with melted dark chocolate. Insert drizzler inside the slit, and fill the buñuelo with chocolate.
A Buñuelo filled with melted chocolate that I created for Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day! You have three options on how to present the Buñuelos de Viento for your guests!
Click on the button below to watch my YouTube video on How to Make Buñuelos de Viento!
Recipe and Nutritional Facts!
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. Please refer to our Nutritional Facts Disclaimer for more information.
Print
Buñuelos de Viento
- Prep Time: 35 Minutes
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 32 Buñuelos 1x
Description
Buñuelos de Viento is a light and airy round fried dough that is traditionally coated lightly with a cinnamon-sugar mixture or drizzled on top with a homemade syrup.
Ingredients
Dough Recipe:
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 4 tablespoons margarine made with Olive Oil
- 1 cup flour
- 3 to 4 large eggs
Syrup Recipe:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ¼ teaspoon lemon peel
Sugar and Cinnamon Mixture Recipe:
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Add water, salt, sugar and margarine in a saucepan. Stir well and bring to a boil.
- Turn off heat and add the flour. Stir rapidly for 3 – 5 minutes until dough holds together with a smooth consistency.
- Now we add one egg to the dough and stir rapidly until the egg is fully incorporated into the dough. Follow this process (one egg at a time) until you obtain a cake batter consistency.
- Heat oil in a frying skillet to 365°F. Grease a lemon baller with oil and fill with dough mixture.
- Release dough mixture from lemon baller onto the skillet.
- Fry the Buñuelos until golden on both sides. The Buñuelos will fill with air and flip on their own.
- Place them on a plate lined with paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
- Mix the sugary Mixture in a bowl. Lightly coat the Buñuelos with the sugary mixture.
- To prepare the syrup – add all the ingredients in a saucepan for the syrup. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted.
- Set aside to cool. Remove cinnamon sticks and strain syrup to discard the lemon peels. Pour syrup on top of Buñuelos.
- For Chocolate Buñuelos, fill a chocolate drizzler with melted dark chocolate. Make a small slit to the Buñuelos and insert drizzler. Gently push down on the plunger to fill the Buñuelos with the melted chocolate.
Notes
How to Melt Chocolate: In a saucepan, add the chocolate morsels with a tablespoon of water. Cook over low heat until the chocolate morsels have melted, stirring occasionally. See food blogging post on how to make Chocolate Coquito for a more detail demonstration.
The nutritional value listed is for one fried Buñuelo.
If you pour the entire syrup on all 32 Buñuelos, you will need to increase the carbohydrate and sugar by 6 g and calories by 24.
If you dust all 32 Buñuelos with the cinnamon and sugar mixture, you will need to increase the carbohydrate and sugar by 1 g and calories by 5.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Keywords: Buñuelos de Viento, Buñuelos
2 Comments. Leave new
Would I be able to make these ahead of time? If so how would you recommend storing them?
★★★★★
Hi Bryan, I never had the opportunity to store the Buñuelos because I always prepare them a few days before serving. Since they are delicate pastries, I would treat them like any other pastries I have prepared in the past. I usually place the pastries (without the syrup) on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and place them in the freezer until frozen. After they are frozen, you can carefully package them in zip lock bags (or vacuum seal if possible) and store them in the freezer again for future use.