Panellets: Bonny Boniato

It's fall in Barcelona which means it's time for Castanyas/Castañas (roasted chestnuts) and Panellets, little confections of patata (potato) or moniato/boniato (sweet potato). There are little stalls on street corners selling roasted chestnuts and boniatos; it seems kinda strange to see cooked sweet potatoes for sale on the street, but it's a tradition. October 31 is actually celebrated as Castenyada/Casteñada in northern Spain. After I spent a fortune at the bakery last year on "two of each", Irene made a bunch with potato and they turned out quite well. This year, I wanted to use boniato because I figured the earthy sweetness of the spud would work well with the nutty coatings. 

This turned out a bit more moist than last year's with potato, which was more appropriately biscuit-y. You might want to increase the ground Almonds to compensate for the Boniato's wetter texture.

For the dough:

150 g Boniato (1 medium)
250 g Almonds, finely ground

200 g Sugar
1/8   Lemon Peel, grated fine on a microplane

For the coatings:

  2   Eggs, separated
      Almonds, coarsely ground (we had sliced, so chopped them)

      Coconut, shredded, unsweetened or sweetened 
      Pine Nuts

 

Boil the Boniato until it's cooked; let cool and peel.

Boniato, cooled, cooked, and peeled

Press through a potato ricer or mash them as best you can.

Mix in the Ground Almonds, Sugar and Lemon Peel.

Let cool so the dough firms up.

Now it's time to shape and coat them. Traditionally, each different coating uses a different shape: spheres, pyramids, cylinders, etc. For simplicity, we made balls for all of them. 

Lightly butter two cookie sheets or use non-stick baking sheets.

Use a disher or spoon to scoop out little balls, then roll them in your palms to make smooth spheres. 

Separate the Eggs into bowls for white and yolk.

Put toppings -- Chopped Almonds, Shredded Coconut, Pine Nuts -- into separate low bowls.

Dip some of the balls into yolk and then Coconut, roll to cover, then place on the nonstick baking sheet.

Repeat with more balls using Egg White and Almonds.

Dip the remaining balls into a mixture of the Egg White and Yolk, then coat with Pine Nuts: this is the most fidgety part, as the Nuts are so large they don't want to stick well to the Boniato balls.

Apply a bit of the egg mixture as a wash to all the Panellets to help them brown nicely.

Bake about 15 minutes in 225C convection until the nuts are barely golden and attractive.

Let cool.

Serve with Moscato sweet wine.