Pestiños are Spanish pastries fried in olive oil. The dough is made with flour, yeast, sesame, and sometimes orange juice and cinnamon. After the dough has been fried, it is traditionally topped with honey or sugar. These crunchy fritters have been prepared during the Holy Week and Christmas since the 16th century.

Serve them with sweet wine, tea, hot chocolate, or coffee.

Hailing from Provence, oreillettes are the thin, rectangular sheets of deep-fried dough. They are prepared with flour, eggs, and butter, and are usually enriched with citrus zest and orange flower water. Traditionally enjoyed during the Carnival season, they are best served freshly prepared and generously coated in powdered sugar.

These crispy fritters are also enjoyed in the neighboring Occitanie region.

Xuixo (pronounced shoo-shoo) is a Catalan dessert originating from the city of Girona. Dating back to the 1920s, this pastry is cylindrical-shaped and filled with the delectable crema catalana. It's probably best to describe it as a cross between a croissant and a churro, but filled with cream.

The xuixo is then deep-fried and sprinkled with crystallized sugar. According to the city's lore, an acrobat named Tarlá fell in love with a pastry chef's daughter, and one day when the chef entered his bakery he heard a sneeze, leading him to Tarlá's hiding spot. 

Borrachuelo is a traditional dessert originating from Málaga. The word borracho in the name means drunk, referring to the fact that the biscuits are soaked in wine and anisette. Although the cookies have a few versions, depending on their filling, they’re usually made with a combination of flour, olive oil, orange peel strips, moscatel wine, anisette, orange juice, lemon juice, sesame seeds, and fennel.

Once prepared, the smooth dough is rolled out and cut into disks, fried until golden, filled with pumpkin or sweet potato mixture, closed, dipped in honey, and dusted with icing sugar. Borrachuelos are especially popular during the carnival season and Christmas.

Struffoli is a Neapolitan dessert consisting of small, deep-fried balls of dough that are soaked in honey. Traditionally, struffoli is prepared at Christmastime, so they are sometimes served piled on a plate in the shape of a wreath or a Christmas tree, often covered in colorful candy sprinkles or candied fruit.

The name of the dish is believed to be derived from the Greek word strongulos, meaning round in shape. Some believe that struffoli bring good luck, and that the tiny rounds symbolize abundance and prosperity. These sweet treats were prepared in convents for centuries before they began being distributed by nuns to noble families at Christmastime as a sign of gratitude for their donations and charity. 

Cassatelle or casateddi are deep-fried Italian pastries that consist of a sugary filling enclosed within two thin layers of dough, which is enriched with white wine or Marsala. Often considered to be the sweet version of ravioli pasta, cassatelle originated in the Sicilian province of Trapani, where they are still traditionally prepared with a lemon-flavored filling that combines ricotta cheese and chocolate drops.

Apart from the traditional version, different varieties of this classic treat are widespread across Sicily. The most popular ones include cassatelle Agira, prepared with a cocoa-and-almond filling, and different varieties are made with pumpkin, figs, or chickpeas. 

Rosquillas are traditional Spanish deep-fried donuts, characterized by their fluffy texture and a hole in the middle. They are typically prepared during the Holy Week festivities. Although there are many varieties of rosquillas, the classic ones are prepared with a combination of eggs, sugar, milk, oil, lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and anisette, which imparts a unique flavor to these tasty donuts.

Another classic variety of rosquillas is made with sweet muscat wine (moscatel), and those donuts are known as rosquillas de vino. After they have been deep-fried, rosquillas are typically served as a sweet snack, topped with cinnamon sugar. 

In their simplest form, filhós are traditional Portuguese deep-fried treats prepared with leavened dough. They come in numerous regional varieties that may differ in form and often incorporate different spices and additions such as pumpkin or orange juice.

After frying, they are usually coated in cinnamon sugar, and in Algarve, they are occasionally dipped in brown sugar syrup. Although they are often associated with Christmas, filhós are enjoyed all year round. In some regions, the term filhós may refer to the round Portuguese-style doughnuts that are better known as malasadas.

Roscos fritos are typical Spanish desserts that are similar to donuts, but they have a different texture and are a bit sweeter than regular donuts. Also, roscos are often rolled in sugar after being fried. The dough is prepared with a combination of eggs, sugar, flour, oil, and grated lemon rind.

It is shaped into donut rings, then fried until golden. Although the place of origin of roscos fritos is thought to be in Andalusia, these sweet treats are nowadays consumed throughout the country, especially during the Easter festivities.