Orujo Brandy Carnival Pancakes

The carnival pancakes, known in Spanish as “orejas de carnaval” (carnival ears) as they resemble an ear. Its main ingredients, like in most of the desserts, are flour and eggs. Knowing this, we can create a whole bunch of varieties.

In this recipe you'll learn how to make carnival pancakes with Orujo Panizo Brandy. This recipe is based on the one from the following blog: http://www.directoalpaladar.com/

• Flour (250 g)
• Butter (50 g)
• Aguardiente orujo Panizo -Marc Brandy- (25 ml)
• Lukewarm water (100 ml)
• Powdered sugar (60 g)
• 1 egg
• The zest of half a lemon
• A pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients, including the aguardiente but excluding the flour, until the mix is even. Sift the flour while adding it to the mix so that you can get a light, mouldable dough. Let it rest for an hour or an hour and a half. This is probably the most creative step. You have to take little pieces of dough and mould them into a shape resembling an ear (more or less). The form has to be as thin as possible without breaking.

Use olive oil so that the dough doesn't stick to the rolling pin or the counter. Fry the “orejas” (or ear-resembling pancakes!) in boiling oil. The best option would be sunflower oil because it doesn't suck the flavour from the rest of the ingredients. Once they're toasted, take them out and place them over blotting paper, to remove the excess oil. To finish, you can spread a little bit of powdered sugar on top of them once they've cooled down. This is how you can make your own ear-like carnival pancakes with a special hint of orujo brandy (marc brandy).  They will be praised both at breakfast and during a sit-down chat over an after-dinner coffee.