Peruvian Picarones

Picarones

Ingredients (serves 2):
1/2 cup of boiled pumpkin or butternut squash
1/4 cup of water (that the pumpkin was boiled in)
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon maizena
1 teaspoon sugar
oil (for frying)

Syrup:
500 grams of chancaca (dark brown sugar)
2 cups water
peel of one orange, finely grated

Preparations:
For the syrup: Put the ingredients for the syrup in a pan with a thick bottom. Let the sugar melt into a syrup at a low fire. It should be dark and thick.

For the picarones: First, boil the pumpkin and drain. Then dissolve the yeast in a bit of the water you boiled the pumpkin in, with the teaspoon of sugar.
With a blender, mix the boiled pumpkin and add the milk bit by bit. Then add the flour and the maizena while constantly mixing. Then add the yeast mixture and mix it all into a thick batter. Put the batter into a bowl and put it in a pre-heated oven. Turn off the heat after a minute and let the batter rise while still in the oven.
Finally, we fry the batter in plenty of oil to make the picarones. They should have the shape of a ring (about 10 cm diameter).
Serve hot with lots of syrup.