Starting the day with Hojaldras

I think some of my favorite memories revolve around the table.  Breakfast, lunch, homework, birthdays, game nights, all surrounded the table.

While creating this, and thinking back on my childhood I immediately remembered getting ready for school, brushing my teeth and running to the kitchen.  Sometimes breakfast was cereal, sometimes it was eggs and sausage, sometimes it was grits (I grew up in the south).  Those mornings aren't too different from any one else's.  

Sometimes as I ran to the dinner table after brushing my teeth and what was on the table wasn't biscuits, wasn't a bowl of cereal.  It was a bit of cheese and Hojaldras.  It never occurred to me that that could be unique to me or my family.  Who talks about breakfast as a kid? 

Later on as I grew older, fellow co workers and I would sit around our break room table early morning around a few tacos and some coffee, as we would do every morning, we would talk. Silly stuff, our families, what we did over the weekend, and sometimes what we missed about being a kid.  

Not paying bills, no responsibilities, warm Hojaldras with hot chocolate.  

Just me? Really?

Never even heard of that?

Hojaldras are a Panamanian breakfast food, I hear in Columbia they're called Hojuelas but you know, that's not important.  

Think of these not as biscuits not as donuts,  but something in between.  Fried until golden impossibly fluffy and chewy and crunchy in the same bite.  Mild in flavor, and a perfect companion to anything you may be eating for breakfast.  

In asking for this recipe my mom laughed at me.  Saying she didn't exactly know,  this recipe comes from watching my mom intently as she makes these for her weirdo son, that wants breakfast .... right now.  

The Recipe 

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• Generous pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp sugar
• oil for frying

all the ingredients you need!

Method 

To form our dough we're going to start by adding all the dry ingredients together.  That's the flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar.

A shaggy dough, full of promise.

Mix those together with a fork.  Then as if we were making noodles we're going to make a well in the dough where we crack our egg into.  Beat the egg and add the milk while beating. 


When both are loosely incorporated with each other mix with the dry ingredients until a shaggy dough forms.

Covered Dough 

Let this dough rest for about 5 to 15 minutes.
Take this time to start heating the oil. 

Roughly golfball sized

Roll your dough into little golf ball size balls.  The dough should yield about 15, but if you get a few more or a few less, no big deal.  Your oil should be pretty hot at this point. 

emphasis on the ish

Take your golf ball sized dough balls and pinch in the middle fanning outward making a round-ish shape a little less than half an inch thick, the size of a 4 foot 10 inch mom's palm.

Fry these up two or three at a time

Imperfection is part of the charm.
Dip your disk of dough into the oil and fry until golden, rest on a paper towel. 

Enjoy!

Enjoy with a your morning coffee, hot chocolate or as I did as a child, with a bit of cheese.  

Helpful Tips:

The dough should be shaggy but not falling apart.  Feel free to add a tiny bit of water if the dough is not coming together. 

Be mindful of that pinch of salt,  a little goes a long way. 

If you want these to be more like a dessert, add more sugar, or dust out of the fryer with a sugar cinnamon mix.  Make them little Caribbean Beignets, I won't stop you. 

I've eaten these with sausage, eggs, apples, coffee, and hot chocolate.  If you can eat it, pair it with this.  You won't be disappointed.