In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. use your fingers to work the shortening into the flour mixture until it’s well-mixed in, almost like coarse sand. Then stir in water and stir until the dough forms a ball. If the dough isn’t shaping into a ball, add more water by the tablespoon until it comes together.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes until it’s smooth and soft. It shouldn’t be sticky at all. If it is sticky, sprinkle it with flour as you knead it. Once you have worked the dough for five minutes, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for 20 minutes. (If you are making it in advance, you can transfer it to the fridge and remove it 30 minutes before cooking).
When ready to make sopapillas, add oil to a pot or skillet so it comes up a few inches. You might not need all the oil.
Cut the sopapilla dough into four even quarters. Working with one at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it’s 8-10 inches in diameter. Then cut the dough into 8-10 pieces of different shapes and sizes. Some variety is nice!
Add the sopapilla pieces to the hot oil (˚F350 °F) and fry for about 90 seconds per side. The finished sopapillas should puff up and get golden brown.
Remove sopapillas and let drain on a few paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar before serving and serve with hot honey.
To make hot honey, stir together honey with hot sauce and adjust to taste.