Balah el Sham ( Egyptian Choux Pastry )

Preparation time: 1 hour 6 minutes

Servings: 40

Ingredients:

• Water - 3 cups
• Lime (juiced) - 1
• Vegetable oil - 2 1/2 cups
• All-purpose flour - 1 cup
• Corn oil - 2 cups
• White sugar - 2 cups
• Vanilla extract - 2 teaspoons
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• Eggs - 4

Directions:

• Boil 1 cup of the water as well as 1 cup of the sugar in a pan. Decrease the heat of the stove to medium. Stir in the lime juice. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Put 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract in syrup. Allow it to cool.
• Add 2 cups of the water, salt, 1 cup of the sugar, and vegetable oil in a pan. Let them boil. Decrease the heat of the stove to medium. Stir in the flour and shape like a ball. Heat until the mixture gets smooth (for 1 minute). Pour it into a bowl and let it cool for 5 minutes.
• Flatten the mixture into a bowl. Stir in the eggs. Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract and stir until the mixture becomes smooth. Put it in a piping bag.
• Heat the corn oil in a pan. Cook until bubbly and decrease the heat of the stove to low. Squeeze 2-inches of the mixture into hot oil. Cook until light brown (for 5 minutes). Put the pastries on a plate. Sieve.
• Soak the pastries in the syrup.