Desserts
Picarones
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Peruvian fried yeast-dough rings made with pumpkin and sweet potato, served with dark chancaca-based spiced syrup. Shape the soft, sticky dough with damp hands; irregular rings are characteristic of this handmade preparation.
Timing
- Preparation: about 30 minutes
- Cooking time: about 45 minutes
- Rising: about 90 minutes, syrup made in parallel
- Total time: about 2 hours 45 minutes
Estimated nutrition
per piece · Calculated for 16 pieces.
- Energy
- ≈ 245 kcal
- Protein
- ≈ 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- ≈ 41.1 g
- Fat
- ≈ 6.7 g
Approximate values based on the listed ingredients. Brands, cheese, portion size and preparation can change the values.
Calculation basis
Item weights and household measures are estimated. Unless specified: milk with 1.5% fat, cream with 30% fat and Gouda cheese. Optional ingredients, small amounts of seasoning and separately listed side dishes are excluded. For imprecise entries, the amounts below and comparable reference products are assumed. For alternatives, the first listed ingredient is used. Cooking losses have not been measured.
Calculated per ring (two rings per serving), assuming 100 g absorbed frying oil for 16 pieces. All 250 g chancaca are approximated using BLS brown sugar and included in full; leftover syrup reduces the actual value. Oil absorption has not been measured.
Quantity assumptions and ingredient mapping
- 1 l neutral deep-frying oil, depending on pan size · ≈ 100 g · Estimated absorbed cooking fat, not the entire oil bath
- 250 g chancaca, or panela · ≈ 250 g · Assumed quantity / reference product
Matvaretabellen: Mattilsynet · Santa Maria
Food data: Max Rubner-Institut, BLS 4.0 (2025), CC BY 4.0. Calculated and rounded for this recipe. BLS 4.0 · CC BY 4.0
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 250 g peeled pumpkin
- 250 g peeled sweet potato
- 450 g plain wheat flour, German Type 550
- 7 g dried yeast
- 20 g sugar
- 0.5 tsp aniseed
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 600 ml cooking water, reserving 100 ml for the dough
- 1 l neutral deep-frying oil, depending on pan size
- For the syrup:
- 250 g chancaca, or panela
- 300 ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
- 2 strips untreated orange peel, without white pith
Instructions
- Dice pumpkin and sweet potato. Cook with the aniseed in 600 ml water for about 15–20 minutes until soft. Reserve 100 ml cooking water, then drain. Mash the vegetables finely and cool both purée and reserved water to below 40 °C.
- Stir yeast and sugar into the lukewarm cooking water and stand for 5 minutes. Mix with vegetable purée, flour and salt. Beat or knead vigorously for 5 minutes. The dough stays soft and sticky but should stretch coherently.
- Cover and leave in a warm place for 60–90 minutes until noticeably risen. Do not add enough flour to turn it into firm, rollable dough.
- Meanwhile, bring chancaca, 300 ml water, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel to a boil. Simmer uncovered for 20–25 minutes until lightly syrupy. Strain and keep warm; the syrup thickens as it cools.
- Heat the oil to 170 °C in a deep pan filled no more than halfway. Keep a bowl of water for dampening hands well away from the hot oil. Hands should be lightly damp, never dripping.
- With damp hands, take a small portion of dough, about one sixteenth. Pull a hole in the centre and shape a ring. Carefully lower it into the oil close to the surface. Use a long wooden stick to keep the hole open if needed.
- Fry only a few rings at a time for 2–3 minutes per side until golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Cut the first ring open to check that the centre is cooked through, adjusting temperature and time if needed.
- Drizzle the warm rings with spiced syrup and serve immediately. Offer the remaining syrup separately.
