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St John’s coca
Hello,
This dessert very typical in Catalonia on St John’s day, you can find them on each bakery, pastry shop, take away food store, supermarkets. And you can also find a wide range of them, but my favorite one is this one I show you on this recipe, with custard on top. It’s completely amazing, and it’s not me saying it, the same said my family and my colleagues in work (who also had the choice to taste it). The only con, it takes some time to cook it, but no pain no gain 🙂
Ingredients (to cook 2 of them):
- 500 gr flour
- 50 gr butter
- Corn flour
- 1 litre of milk
- 250 gr sugar
- 4 eggs
- Cinnamon
- Lemon zest
- Baker’s yeast (5gr dry, 15 gr if it’s fresh)
- Vanilla extract
- Pine seeds
- Laminated almonds
- Candied cherries
- Anise
Let’s start heating 400 gr of milk, with a stick of cinnamon and lemon (or orange) zest. Simmer until the milk boils, then maintain in the fire for 2 minutes and let cold. When milk is warm, add 100 gr of flour in a bowl, 5 gr of dry baker’s yeast (if it’s fresh use 15 gr dissolved in milk) mix well and add 100 gr of previously heated milk passing it through a colander. Mix well with a spatula or a wooden spoon, cover with transparent film and let rest all night. Prepare also mix of 2 tablespoons of sugar, a bit of anise and water, if the mix seems too wet add some extra sugar.
Next day add 400 gr of flour in the bowl, 100 gr of sugar, 200 grams of the milk heated the day before and half teaspoon of salt. Mix well everything first in the bowl and then knead it to obtain a soft and silky dough. To knead it I lift it with my hands, turn 90 degrees, dash to the table, drag a bit to me and then with a wrist move fold over itself, you need to repeat these movement for quite a long time, perhaps 8 to 15 minutes until the dough looks silky. Now spread the dough and add over 50 gr of butter in small pieces, the butter should be for some hours out of fridge so it will be easier to integrate in the dough. Once the butter is well integrated in the dough we need to knead again in the same way as before, and again for some quite long time. Once you finished kneading keep the dough on the bowl covered with a transparent film and let rest about 4-5 hours.
You can do the custard now, to prepare it add on a bowl half litre of milk, 100 gr of sugar and 3 egg yolks. To keep away the egg yolks, crash the egg and move the egg yolk from each half part of the egg shell. Add also a tablespoon of corn flour and whisk it with energy. You can also add some ground cinnamon and vanilla extract to make it more tasty. Put this mix on a pot and simmer while stiring with a wooden spoon. Take patience as you will need to stir until it reduces and gets consistent, and this could take about 20 minutes. Cover and let cold.
After resting the dough it’s time to take it out of the bowl and knead it a bit, like a minute, divide the dough in 2 pieces and spread it over a baking paper, with your hand or with a rolling pin. And let rest for 3 hours. Don’t worry if you see the dough too thick and fragile, it will grow again.
Last steps! Paint the surface with a whisked egg and then cover with custard, well in the video I did upside down, as it is easier to paint first. Spread over also the sugar mixed with anise and water, pine seeds, laminated almonds and some candied cherries. Bake them at 400ºF 15 minutes and let cold before eating.
If you try it, you will love this recipe!
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Bandullo
Hello,
This recipe it’s a kind of sponge cake replacing flour with bread (with some days), the result is an hybrid between a cake and torrijas, very interesting:
Ingredients:
- Bread (some days old)
- Lemon zest
- 50 gr butter
- 3 eggs
- 70 gr sugar
- ½ litre of milk
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking powder (aprox 16 gr)
On a blender cup add the bread and half litre of milk. Add also baking powder, 50 gr of butter, 70 grams of sugar, 3 eggs, some lemon zest and a bit of ground cinnamon. Mix well.
Add a bit of vegetable oil in the mold and paint all the mold with a brush. Add the mix on the mold and bake in the oven at 350ºF (180ºC) for 40-45 minutes.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
King Cake (Roscón de Reyes)
Hi,
Someweeks ago Ibán Yarza, which is a bread enthusiast and translator into spanish of Dan Lepard’s books about bread, give a training session about Christmas breads, focusing on panettone and King Cake (Roscón de Reyes in Spanish); cooking a panettone is a way complicated but the King Cake is more affordable, even it has a considerable amount of work behind. You need patience and time to prepare it, and on this recipe I will show you how to cook 2 King Cakes.
This cake is very typical in Spain on Epiphany day. Sometime some surprises are hidden in the dough: a king and a bean, the one finding the king is crowned and the one finding the bean must pay  the cake 🙂
Ingredients (for 2 king bakes):
- 250 ml milk
- Skin of a lemon and an orage
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 440 gr flour
- 80 gr sugar
- 5 gr dry baker’s yeast (or 15-20 if it is fresh)
- 3 eggs
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water
- 4 teaspoons of rum
- Candied fruit (for decoration)
- Sliced almonds (for decoration)
First day we will prepare a preferment, to prepare it add about 250 ml of milk in a pot, adding also the skin of a lemon and an orange and a cinnamon stick. Let the milk boil for 2 or 3 minutes taking care it does not overflood the pot. Wait for the milk to reach ambient temperature and add on a bowl 100gr of flour, half teaspoon of dry baker’s yeast and 60 gr of previously boiled milk, knead it in the same bowl, form a ball and cover with transparent film, let rest for at least a night.
Next day remove the film and add 340gr of flour, 80 gr of sugar, about 4 gr of dry baker’s yeast, half teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of orange blossom water, 4 teaspoons of rum, 2 eggs and 120 gr of milk boiled the day before. Mix well all ingredients helping you first with a spoon or spatula and then use your hands. When everything is well mixed it’s time to knead on the table, so put the content of bowl in the table and help you with a spatula to get the most part of dough which will be stick to the walls of the bowl.
And now it’s time to knead, use your hands as showels with all your 4 fingers stuck on each other (the less surface you offer to the dough the less will get stuck to your hands), pass your hands under the dough touching your fingers, hold (without pressing) the dough with your thumbs in the middle of dough, lift the dough, drop it to the table, drag it to you and with a wrist move fold the dough and separate your hands, now you need to repeat the move placing your hands on 90 degrees. Hope it is more clear watching the video 🙂
It will take you some time to knead it, about 10 to 15 minutes, you can take some rests collecting the dough stuck on the table with the help of a spatula, let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes and it will be more easy to handle. No stress no hurry up, just take your time, and take as rests as you need. After kneading, kneading and kneading the dough will be less sticky, and each time you lift it there will be almost no dough on the table, when the dough is in this state help you with a spatula to give the dough a round form as you can see in the video. Cover with a dishcloth and let ferment for about 1 hour.
You will see how the dough increased it’s volume, this  is always amazing to see. Extend with your hands the dough and place over it 60 gr of unsalted butter, take the butter out of fridge some hours before. Integrate the butter on the dough and knead again as before, until you get a shiny and soft silky dough, again give it a round form with a spatula and cover with a dishcloth and let ferment for about an hour.
Divide the dough in 2 parts. With each part we will knead it for just one minute or two and help again with the spatula to give int a round form. Insert a finger in the middle and then with some skill form a kind of bagel. When formed put each part over an oven paper and brush them with a whisked egg, taking care to brush all the dough. Let rest for some hours.
After resting we can brush it again the the whisked egg, and decorate them with candied fruit (I used oranges and cherries) sliced almods, even you can place bands of sugar.
Cook in the oven at 400ºF (200º C) for 14-17 minutes, until it gets a nice colour. Let cold and enjoy! You can also cut it in half and stuff with cream, custard, chocolate …
Here you can take a look on how it is cooked in the oven on a high speed camera 🙂
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Quesada pasiega
Hello,
Quesada pasiega is a very typical dessert in Cantabria, a region in North Spain, it’s quite similar to a cheesecake but this recipe does not use cheese at all, instead it uses Cuajada, if you cannot find cuajada, perhaps you can replace it with ricotta. This dessert is really easy to prepare and it’s really nice, I bring it to work so colleagues could taste it, and it was really a success.
Ingredients:
Add 3 eggs in a bowl, 200 gr of sugar, grate the skin of one lemon, 80 gr of butter (melted or out of fridge for some hours) and a bit of ground cinnamon. Whisk well. Then add 150 gr of flour and whisk well again. Finally add 1 kg of cuajada and give it a last good whisk.
Finally fill molds with the mix, with a maximum height of 3-4 centimeters and cook in the oven at 350ºF (180º F) for 50 minutes, or perhaps more, until the surface gets slightly toasted. Don’t worry if you see it grow too much in the oven, it will reduce its size while cooling.
As you can see a really easy recipe, perhaps the only non easy part could be find the cuajada 🙂
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Fried milk
Hello,
Fried milk is a very typical dessert in north Spain, it’s tricky to cook until you don’t get the right measures, once you got them it’s quite easy, but it requires some time to prepare.
Ingredients:
- 1 litre milk
- 100 gr corn flour
- 150 gr sugar
- 1 lemon
- Ground cinnamon
- 1 stick cinnamon
- Flour
- 1 egg
- Vegetable oil
Start boiling 850 ml of milk, with a stick of cinnamon and 100 gr of sugar. Move it to dissolve the sugar. Add also some skin of lemon, cut really thin to avoid the white part which is bitter.
While the milk heats up, in a bowl mix 100 gr of corn flour with 150 ml of milk.
Once the milk is boiling be careful to avoid  flood over the pot, shut down the fire and remove cinnamon stick and lemon skin. Add the milk mixed with corn flour and move with a wooden spoon for some minutes until it’s well mixed and without grumes.
Turn over a rectangular or square recipient, I’ve used silicon mold for easy unmold. Let rest for 1 hour and half, and 1 hour in the fridge. On a silicon mold the unmold process will be very easy, cut the solidified milk in cubes.
Before frying you will pass them on egg and flour, so beat an egg and pass each cube first on the egg then on flour.
Add vegetable oil in a pot, enough to cover the cubes. When inserting a wooden spoon in the oil bubbles appear the oil temperature is right to fry. Add the cubes and remove in a short time (perhaps little less than a minute), put them on a towel paper and add over a mix of sugar and ground cinnamon (like 50 gr of sugar and 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon). Let cold and it is ready to eat.
Music played in the video (Airport Lounge) was composed by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), also he is the owner of song’s rights which are released under a CC-BY license.
Swedish cinnamon buns (kanelbullar)
Hello,
Some days ago I tried the swedish cinnamon buns for the first time, but I was fully satisfied with the result, so I tried to fix the mistakes done in the first try and end up with a really nice recipe. Well being honest even in the first round I did some mistakes my brother and my colleagues in work were very happy with the result, but they went even happier with this one.
Ingredients:
- ½ litre milk
- 1 Kg flour
- 250 gr sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cardamom
- 200 gr butter
- 1 egg
- Baker’s yeast (5gr dry)
Hi this recipe is a nice one to start your day full of energy or to offer to friends or family.
Start heating ½ litre of milk and 100 gr of butter until butter is dissolved. Wait for the milk to be warm and add to a bowl. In the bowl add also 1 kg of flour, 1 envelope of baker’s yeast (5 gr), 150 gr of sugar, 1 tablespoon of ground cardamom and a pinch of salt. Mix well with a spoon or spatula, then mix with your hands for a while.
Put the dough over a clean surface and knead it. You will need to kneed the dough for at least 6 minutes until it becomes non sticky and with a smooth surface. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a cloth ant let rest for at least 1 and ½ hour, so the yeast do its work and the dough raises.
For the filling we will need 100 gr of melted butter, 100 grams of sugar and 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon. Mix them until well combined.
Spread some flour on the surface and start smashing the dough with your hands, and then work it with a rolling pin to get a rectangular shape. In order to get the rectangular shape, fold the dough and continue working with the rolling pin. Spread the filling over the dough, and carefully distribute over all the surface. Roll the dough and cut in pieces about 3-4 centimetres. Let rest those pieces for about 1 hour.
Paint the pieces with whisked egg using a brush,  sprinkle some sugar above or like I did grated coconut. Cook in the oven at 430ºF (220º C) with  fan on if you have for about 6 minutes until they are gold.
Song included in the video (Airport lounge) is composed and its rights are owned by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com)
Torrijas
- Bread
- Milk
- Red Winde
- Egg
- Sugar
- Ground cinnamon
Custards
As a fan of Fringe perhaps I’m a little bit dissapointed Walter Bishop never showing the custard’s recipe he tries to cook for his son Peter in some chapters. So finally I did them following some other recipes.
Ingredients (6-8 custards):
– 1,5 l milk
– 1 stick cinnamon
– 1 lemon (just the skin)
– 6 eggs (just the egg yolks)
– 150 gr sugar
– 20 gr corn flour
Start adding 1,5 litres of milk in a big pot. Add also 75 gr of sugar (about 4 table spoon), one stick cinnamon and grate or peel the skin of one lemon. When milk starts to boil shutdown the fire.
Add 6 egg yolks in a bowl, to separe the egg yolk from the egg white crash the egg and move around the egg yolk from each half egg shield until there is no more egg white.
Add 20 gr of corn flour, 75 gr of sugar and whisk it well. Also if you like, you can also add one small spoon of vanilla extract.
Add the mix in a big pot with the fire set to minimum. Move the mix with a wooden spoon while incorporing strained milk in several times. When all milk has been added, keep moving with the wooden spoon for 20 minutes.
If the mix starts to boil, put the pot off of fire, for one minute and then put on fire again. This is to avoid enough temperature to curdle the egg.
Let stand the custards for about 2 hours, and add ground cinnamon when serving if you like.
Rice pudding
Rice pudding is a typical dessert recipe in lots of places around the world, this recipe will show you how I make my own rice pudding.
Ingredients:
- 1,5 litres milk
- 300 gr rice
- 150 gr sugar
- 1 lemon
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
To prepare rice pudding start putting 1,5 litre of milk in a big pot. Add 2 stikcs of cinnamon. Peel and add the skin of a lemon or orange, or grate.
When milk is boiling add 300 gr of rice, and move frequently for about 20 minutes. Shutdown the fire, add 150 gr of sugar and move it.
Let rest at least 2-3 hours before serving. As it get too dense when serving I add a bit of milk, and some ground cinnamon.
Recipes from Spain 