These panellets have an irresistible golden colour, a crunchy texture on the outside thanks to the pine nuts, and a soft inside due to the delicious combination of baked sweet potato and ground almonds. A perfect combination to brighten up any autumn day.
Now that in Barcelona it seems that autumn is finally starting to set in, the only things that really make me happy are the fire-roasted chestnuts, the oven-roasted sweet potatoes, and the panellets. So my mission today is to share with you this traditional recipe for this Catalan sweet consumed mostly during the Castanyada days.
To put you in context, the Castanyada is a festival originated in the 18th century, as a derivation of the old funeral meals, that is why it is celebrated during the eve and the day of All Saints, that is to say on October 31st and 1st November, just as Halloween goes.
In particular, I make the panellets every year with my mother, since this recipe is hers and all the credit for the good results it gives is hers. So, here I leave you this infallible recipe that lasts over time thanks to its simplicity and how addictive these sweets can be.
Warning: You eat one and you are automatically lost, you are going to want more and more. You are warned ;)
Letās bake!
CATALAN PANELLETS
These panellets have an irresistible golden colour, a crunchy texture on the outside thanks to the pine nuts, and a soft inside due to the delicious combination of baked sweet potato and ground almonds.
Ingredients
dough
- 200g roasted sweet potato
- 500g ground raw almonds
- 500g white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 yolks
decoration
- 200g pine nuts
- 200g chopped almonds
- 200g laminated almond
- 100g chopped dehydrated coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven from above and below with fan to 200ºC.
- In an oven tray put parchment paper and on it the sweet potatoes. Bake them for approximately 1 hour, the exact time will depend on the size of the sweet potatoes.
- In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes and mix them with the white sugar.
- Add the ground raw almonds in three parts, to avoid lumps.
- Cover the bowl with kitchen film in contact with the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 8 hours.
- Roll the dough into small circles of 20g each, measuring about 2cm in diameter approx.
- In a bowl, beat the 3 eggs and submerge all the panellets well to make a glue effect in the next step.
- Cover the panellets, making a little pressure with the palms of your hands, with chopped almonds, others with laminated almonds, others with pine nuts and if you like coconut, make others with dehydrated coconut.
- In a bowl, beat the 4 yolks and with a kitchen brush paint the surface of all the panellets.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC with heat from above and from below with fan.
- Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper and place all the panellets on top, separated but not too much since they do not rise with the heat.
- Bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are golden on top.
Notes
- To know if the sweet potatoes are cooked correctly, simply pierce them with a toothpick and if they are evenly tender, it means that they are ready.
- The classic panellets are those with pine nuts, but I always make a little more variety as you see in the "decoration" ingredients, so it is optional to your taste.
- Step number 7 is very important so that the chosen nuts stick well afterwards, otherwise they will fall off constantly and you will be left with some bald and punky panellets, with only 4 pinions attached.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 60 Serving Size: 20gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 82Total Fat: 5.4gSaturated Fat: 0.51gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 5mgCarbohydrates: 7.28gFiber: 1gSugar: 5.39gProtein: 2.2g
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