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Half a dozen half-moon pastissets de moniato, golden and dusted with sugar, on baking parchment

Sweet potato pastissets (pastissets de moniato)

Pastissets de moniato recipe: sweet potato pastries

Half-moon sweet potato pastries: a dough of spirit, oil and flour, a lime and cinnamon filling made the day before, baked until golden at the edges.

Traditional recipe

Yield
18 pieces
Total time
765 min
Difficulty
Medium
Region
Castellón · Valencia · Alicante · la Vall d’Uixó
Xepep

Sweet potato pastissets (pastissets de moniato)

Yield: 18 pieces

Ingredients

Filling

  • 2 pcsSweet potato (moniato)
  • to tasteLime
  • 1 sprigCinnamon stick
  • to tasteSugar for the filling

Dough

  • 75 mlAguardiente or other strong spirit
  • 75 mlOlive oil
  • 35 gSugar for the dough
  • 250 gFlour
  • 1 pcsEgg

Finishing

  • to tasteSugar for sprinkling (optional)

Ingredients

    Recipe PDF (Yield base: 18 pieces)

    Steps

    1. 1
      Peel the 2 pcs and cut them into cubes. Boil them in plenty of water for about 15 minutes or until tender; the time depends on the size of the pieces.15 min
    2. 2
      Drain the sweet potato and, in the same pan, mash it with the zest of the to taste. Add the to taste and the 1 sprig and cook it for about 10 minutes over a medium heat, stirring constantly so the sugar does not burn.10 min
    3. 3
      Take the pan off the heat and let the filling cool completely. It is best to make it the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight.
    4. 4
      In a deep bowl, mix the 75 ml with the 75 ml. Add the 35 g and a little 250 g and stir.
    5. 5
      Keep adding the 250 g little by little, stirring and working the dough.
    6. 6
      Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, thin but so that it does not break when folded. Cut circles of 10 centimetres with a cutter and remove the offcuts.
    7. 7
      Put a little filling in the centre of each circle and fold it over on itself. Press the edges and seal them with a fork; repeat with all the dough.
    8. 8
      Place the pastissets on a tray lined with baking parchment or a silicone mat and brush them with the beaten 1 pcs so they shine. If you like them with a sweet crust, sprinkle the to taste on now.
    9. 9
      Bake at 200 °C for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden. Take them out and let them cool before eating them.20 min
    Boiled, mashed sweet potato in a pan with a cinnamon stick and lime zest

    Pastissets de moniato, or sweet potato pastries, are one of the Valencian Community’s Christmas sweets: a golden half-moon, thin pastry and a sweet potato filling with cinnamon. This is the recipe from the Turisme la Vall d’Uixó recipe book, with its quantities; the base does not count pieces and, with circles of 10 centimetres, you get about 18, the figure Directo al Paladar gives for an almost identical dough. All you need is sweet potato, flour, oil and a spirit.

    Which recipe we follow and why

    There are several recipes and they are not as alike as you might expect. Valencia Bonita publishes a recipe attributed to the Agència Valenciana de Turisme with half a kilo of sugar in the dough, cazalla (an aniseed spirit) warmed in a small pan and an oven at 220 °C for 25 minutes. Directo al Paladar uses 35 g of sugar, aniseed liqueur and sweet wine, and 180 °C for about 15 minutes. The one in the Vall d’Uixó recipe book, which we follow, has 35 g of sugar, aguardiente and oil, and bakes at 200 °C for 15 to 20 minutes.

    We have not been able to check the Agència Valenciana de Turisme sheet, because its website does not publish the text of the recipe, only a PDF and a video. So we have taken the Vall d’Uixó one as the base, which does give all the quantities and which agrees on the essentials with Directo al Paladar’s, and we have left the other as a doubtful figure, unused. The rule is simple: choose one dough and do not mix it with the others.

    The filling: made the day before

    The sweet potato filling is boiled, mashed and cooked again with sugar, cinnamon and lime. The recipe asks for two small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, about 15 minutes in plenty of water, until tender; the exact time depends on the size of the pieces. Two things matter. First: stir constantly while it cooks, so the sugar does not burn. Second: it must be completely cold when you fill the pastries. It is best to make it the afternoon before and leave it in the fridge overnight. Valencia Bonita warns of the same thing and recalls that the preserve thickens as it cools.

    One more thing: the recipe gives no quantity of sugar for the filling, and Directo al Paladar uses 150 g for every 400 g of sweet potato. Start from one of the two references and adjust to your taste. And the lime in the Vall d’Uixó recipe can be lemon, as in Valencia Bonita.

    The dough: spirit, oil and flour

    The dough is made by mixing the spirit with the oil, adding the sugar and the flour little by little. It is rolled out thin, but so that it does not break when folded, and cut into circles of 10 centimetres. It contains aguardiente or another strong spirit; in Valencia Bonita it is cazalla. It is a sweet with alcohol, so if children or anyone who cannot drink it are going to eat it, let people know at the table.

    Shaping, baking and serving

    A teaspoonful of filling in the centre of each circle, as the Vall d’Uixó recipe says, fold, press the edge and seal with a fork. With more filling, the half-moon is hard to close. Brushed with beaten egg, with sugar on top if you want them as Directo al Paladar does, and into the oven until the edges turn golden; leave them to cool before eating them. They are eaten at any time of day, above all with coffee or with mistela (sweet grape must fortified with alcohol), and they keep well for several days, according to the Agència Valenciana de Turisme.

    If you are setting a Christmas table, they go well with the winter stews: see the cocido con pelotas and the Christmas pelotas that go with it.

    If there are lots of you at the table

    A dessert made the night before is a real help at a long lunch. If there are lots of you, we organise the company Christmas lunch, and the guide to when to book the company Christmas lunch saves you rushing.

    History and variations

    According to the Agència Valenciana de Turisme, the pastisset de moniato is a small pastry in the shape of a semicircle, easy to find in Castelló, València and Alacant, above all as Christmas approaches, and made with ingredients of clear Arab influence. Valencia Bonita gives it as “of Arab origin, possibly”. It is eaten at any time of day, best with coffee or with mistela.

    Valencian Community: Directo al Paladar, which gives them as typical of the Valencian Community, flavours the dough with sweet aniseed liqueur and sweet wine, sprinkles sugar on before the oven and bakes them at 180 °C for about 15 minutes. Sources

    Tips

    Make the filling the day before and keep it in the fridge overnight: it has to be completely cold when you fill the pastries. Sources

    Stir the filling constantly as it cooks so the sugar does not burn. Sources

    If you warm the spirit in a small pan, be careful: cazalla (an aniseed spirit) can catch fire. Sources

    Circles of dough with a spoonful of filling and the edge sealed with a fork

    Sweet potato pastissets (pastissets de moniato)

    Frequently asked questions

    What do you fill pastissets de moniato with?

    With sweet potato boiled and mashed with sugar and cinnamon. The Vall d’Uixó recipe adds lime zest; Valencia Bonita, lemon. The filling is cooled completely before use and, better still, made the day before so it spends the whole night in the fridge and is properly cold when you fill the pastries.

    Are they baked or fried?

    They are baked. The Vall d’Uixó recipe bakes them at 200 °C for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges turn golden; Directo al Paladar, at 180 °C for about 15 minutes, and Valencia Bonita, at 220 °C for 25. None of the three recipes fries them; Valencia Bonita admits that some people fry them, though it bakes them. Keep an eye on the oven for the last few minutes: the golden edge is the sign to take them out.

    How long do pastissets de moniato keep?

    Several days. The Agència Valenciana de Turisme says it is a pastry that keeps wonderfully as the days go by, although the usual thing is that they are eaten sooner. It does not give an exact number of days. The same sheet suggests them at any time of day, above all with coffee or with mistela, so a tray made ahead will do for the whole week of the festivities.

    What is the difference between pastissets de moniato, sweet potato cakes and pastissets de Nadal?

    It is the same sweet under three names: pastissets de moniato in Valencian, pasteles or pastelitos de boniato in Spanish and pastissets de Nadal (Christmas pastissets) for the time of year they are made. Be careful about searching for “pastissets” alone: that name is shared by other pastries from other places. With “moniato” or “boniato” you know they have a sweet potato filling.

    Sources

    Recipes

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