Pastelitos — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Delicate fried pastries filled with quince paste or sweet potato paste, made with layered puff pastry dough and drizzled with sugar syrup. Traditional treat for national holidays.

Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry (store-bought or homemade)
200g quince paste (membrillo), cut into small pieces
200g sweet potato paste (batata), cut into small pieces
Oil for deep frying
For syrup: 200g sugar, 150ml water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

1 Roll out the puff pastry sheets thinly. Cut into squares of about eight centimeters. Place a piece of quince paste or sweet potato paste in the center of each square.
2 Fold each square into a triangle or rectangle, pressing the edges firmly with a fork to seal. Ensure no filling leaks out.
3 Heat oil to 180C in a deep fryer or heavy pot. Fry the pastelitos in batches, turning once, for about three to four minutes until puffed, golden, and flaky.
4 While the pastelitos fry, prepare the syrup by boiling sugar and water together until slightly thickened, about five minutes. Add lemon juice.
5 Drain the fried pastelitos on paper towels, then immediately drizzle or dip them in the warm sugar syrup. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Did You Know?

Pastelitos are so tied to Argentine patriotism that during the May Revolution of 1810, street vendors sold them outside the Buenos Aires Cabildo while citizens gathered to hear revolutionary announcements.