Discover the Honey Pestinos Recipe

(Pestiños de Miel)


By Edu Valor / Author - Spanish Chef

I’ve known the honey pestinos recipe (pestiños in Spanish) for as long as I can remember, and it’s deeply ingrained in our culture. In our family, we have a slight preference for making crispy pestiños during the Christmas season.

As with the rosquillas, they’re sometimes made during the Easter (Semana Santa) festivities as well. But if you have any excuse to make them, go ahead—because these are addictively good.

For Easter, we tend to go for torrijas soaked in a white wine or milk mixture.

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Spanish honey pestiños pastry in a bowl.Crispy and honey sweet.
Spanish honey pestiños pastry in a bowl.Crispy and honey sweet.


Honey pestiños are common in western Andalucía. In other regions, you may find them coated with fine sugar, sometimes with some cinnamon. 

Those honey versions are sometimes sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

That said, these are more family traditions than true regional differences. I remember a honey pestiños recipe that included cinnamon, cloves, and wine. The olive oil was infused with orange or lemon peel and anise seeds.

That distinct aroma filling the kitchen takes me straight back to the Christmas seasons of the 80s. If I ever find that classic recipe, I will share it with you.

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Let's Make Crispy Honey Pestinos

Ingredients for approx. 20+ Pestiños


Preparation: 20-25 minutes
Frying: approx. 1-2 minutes.

*Measurements in metric and USA Imperial system. For British/Canadian measurements, please use the metric conversion calculator.

  • 500 g cake flour (about 4 cups, spooned and leveled)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Zest of ½ orange
  • 90 ml / 6 tbsp fresh orange juice (just under ⅜ cup)
  • 100 ml / 7 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp anise seeds
  • 30 ml / 2 tbsp sweet anise liquor (or 2 teaspoon sugar)
  • 100 ml / 7 tbsp dry white wine
  • A pinch of salt

For Frying and Coating:

  • About 1.5 liters / 6⅓ cups frying oil 
  • 500 ml / 2 cups honey mixed with 1 tablespoon water

Step-by-Step Instructions


  1. Mix liquids: In a large bowl, combine orange juice, olive oil, wine, and anise liqueur. Add salt, orange zest, and anise seeds; whisk.
  2. Prepare flour: Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
  3. Make dough: Gradually add flour to liquids and knead gently until smooth. Don't over-knead. Cover and proof 20–30 minutes.
  4. Roll and cut: Roll the dough 2 mm thick. Cut 12 × 6 cm rectangles and fold opposite corners to the center.
  5. Fry: Heat oil to medium and fry pestiños in batches until golden-brown. Drain on paper towels and let the pestiños cool completely.
  6. When all pestinos are cold, submerge them in the honey mixture (honey + water) and put them on a serving tray.

Enjoy with coffee, tea, anise liquor, or sweet wine. Store in an airtight container.

TIPS: 

  • Keep kneading time short, just until a smooth dough forms.
  • Substitute the anise liquor with sugar if needed.
  • The dough should have a noticeable wine-anise-orange aroma.
  • If anise seeds are unavailable, infuse 2–3 star anise pods in the wine for 1 hour, then remove. If star anise is also unavailable, simply omit.
  • The honey does not need to be heated.
  • Alternatively, cut the dough into circles using a glass and fold two opposite edges toward the center.

What You Will Need

  1. Frying pan
  2. Rolling pin
  3. Bowls
  4. Whisk
  5. Paring knife
  6. Juicer
  7. Zester
  8. Measuring beakers
  9. Scale
  10. Paper towel

Cutting pestiños dough sheets on a white table.After flattening with a rolling pin, cut the dough rectangles.
Cutting pestiños dough rectangles on a white table.After flattening with a rolling pin, cut the dough rectangles.


Common Mistakes with the Honey Pestinos Recipe

  1. Oil too hot: Overheated oil burns some ingredients, creating bitterness. Fry gently until brown and lightly toasted, not dark or burned.
  2. Dough too thick: Pestiños should be thin to achieve a crisp texture; folded layers fry better when rolled thin.
  3. Overcrowding the pan: Frying too many at once lowers oil temperature, causing excess oil absorption.
  4. Heating the honey: Warm honey can harden the pestiños and reduce crispiness. Use honey cold, or only slightly lukewarm.
  5. Coating while warm: Pestiños must cool completely before honeying; otherwise, condensation will soften them.
  6. Storing too soon: Store only once fully cooled to room temperature to preserve crispness.

The pestiños dough rectangles folded on the table.Opposite corners folded to the middle.
The pestiños dough rectangles folded on the table.Opposite corners folded to the middle.


The Other Traditional Homemade Pestiños


As mentioned above, the traditional honey pestinos recipe has a slightly different way of being made.

They are certainly delicious too—I remember having them back in the 80s. As soon as I have the recipe, I'll add it here. The aroma alone brings back many memories.

I know the olive oil was infused with anise and citrus peel. Back then, we didn’t worry about what type of flour to use—we simply used all-purpose flour for every kind of pastry.



*****

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