MERENDEIRAS

Today I want to suggest you one more portuguese recipe, the merendeiras, a typical Easter pastry but of course we can eat them when we want ;) It's interesting to know that each family has its own recipe, some add potatoes or also pumpkin but here I'm gonna show you a recipe with pumpkin since Halloween is almost there ;)

Then, we need 380 gr of all purpose flour and about 200 gr of pumpkin cooked in water...

1 whole egg...

175 gr of sugar...

1 good teaspoon of cinnamon...

1 good teaspoon of anise (erva doce in portuguese)...

raisins (soaked in hot water for about 2-3 min)

walnuts...

Blend the flour with the sugar, the pumpkin, the egg, the cinnamon, the anise and 1 level teaspoon of dry yeast (reactivated in a bit of water). Then, knead for about 5 min and then add the raisins and the walnuts, knead once again for 1 minute...

and let rest for 1 or 2 hours (first rise)...

then shape the merendeiras and let them rest for 1 more hour covered with a damp kitchen towel(second rise)...

and finally put them in a preheated and steamed oven for 20 minutes.

I have to confess that I'm not totally satisfied, they didn't rise as I wanted. But the taste is amazing !!!