Anjie’s Sweet Buñuelos for Mexican-Style Dessert

Buñuelos are a cinnamon-sugary fried-dough dessert served caliente — and we love everything about them. A special treat for kids and adultos alike, buñuelos are a highlight of the Christmas holiday season in Mexico and here in the U.S.

Is it any wonder Anjie Villalobos, one of our favorite Mexican-food cooks and a grandmother, has these buñuelos in her treasury of desserts? She has three grandchildren who live near her in southern California and love spending time with her in the kitchen. These buñuelos are abuela cooking at its most authentic and dulce.

Anjie showed the Familia Kitchen crew how to make these in an abuela cooking dessert master class, expertly frying the flour rounds to golden-brown in less than a minute each. She then quickly sprinkled each piping-hot buñuelo, still glistening with oil, with a generous pinch of the cinnamon-sugar topping she’d mixed earlier.

We watched how the dusting of canela and azucar sweetly sank into the hot dough. It looked too good to resist.

So, we didn’t. Turns out: Buñuelos taste even more delicioso than they appear.

Anjie handed them out and the batch of 10 disappeared in minutes. They are so light, so delicate, so crispy. Buñuelos are the blend perfecto of tingly cinnamon and velvety flour.

Their dulce sabor took us right back to childhood, and we didn’t mind one bit when our fingertips and tongues burned just a little.

For more of Anjie’s family-famous traditional Mexican and southwestern recipes, check out her amazing avocado and serrano salsa, guacamole, green chile chicken pozole, Mexican frijoles de olla or refried beans, and garlicky shrimp tacos—served on her handmade corn tortillas (see how to make them set-by-step).

Hungry for These Cinnamon-Sugary Buñuelos?

Anjie’s Sweet Buñuelos Mexicanos for Dessert

Recipe by Anjie Villalobos

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

45

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Ingredients

• For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup ground cinnamon

• For the Dough

• 2 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 Tbsp sugar

• 1/2 Tsp salt

• 3/4 cups water, warm

• 4 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 1 cup flour, to sprinkle on the work surface

• 2 to 3 cup vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

• Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, add the dry dough ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Mix together.
• Add the warm water and the oil. Blend the dry and wet ingredients with a fork or your hands until you can shape the flour mixture into a ball.
• Move the dough ball to your workspace. With your hands, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. When it feels smooth and pliable—it is ready.
• Roll the dough back into a ball. Return the dough to your mixing bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
• After the dough has rested, divide the large ball into 10 smaller, same-size chunks.
• Pat and roll each into a small ball of dough.
• Sprinkle flour on your work surface and on your rolling pin. One by one, roll each ball of dough into a circle about 6 inches wide and ¼ inch thick.
• Lay each flour disc on parchment paper, making sure they don’t touch each other (or they will stick).
• Pour the oil into a pan or pot, so that it is at least 2 inches high. Turn the heat to medium high. After about 10 minutes, when the oil reaches 350°, you are ready to start frying.
• Using tongs, fry each flour disc—one at a time. Hold the buñuelo under the surface of the oil, about 30 seconds per side. When both sides are a light-golden color, lay each fried dough disc on a paper towel-lined plate or sheet tray.
• Immediately sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon-sugar mixture on each buñuelo while it is still hot (so the topping sticks). Serve with Mexican hot chocolate for optimal results!

Notes

• Buñuelos can also be served drizzled in a syrup made with golden piloncillo— unrefined whole cane sugar — melted with cinnamon, vanilla extract, cloves and a little water.