Spanish Christmas biscuits: Hazelnut mantecados

This recipe comes from a recipe notebook my grandmother kept. A few days ago we tidied up the attic (some of the boxes from our last moving are still there... already for 9 years!), and D. found it when I thought it had been lost ages ago. So to celebrate this reunion, I decided to try one of the recipes (for the first time!) and then use the product for my Christmas gifting...


Mantecados are a very typical Christmas sweet in Spain. Mantecado means made of manteca, that is, pork lard. This sweet is traditionally made with lard, ground nuts, sugar and flour. According to the web Sabor mediterráneo (Mediterranean flavor):

Between September 1st and the beginning of December, in the Sevilian town of Estepa 20 million kilos of mantecados, polvorones, alfajores, and roscos de vino are made and sold... Because regarding mantecados, Estepa is the same as Jabugo in respect to jamón or Jijona in respect to turrón. The pastry tradition of Estepa originates from the Arabs, but the tradition regarding mantecados is a lot more recent, possibly dating from the 15th or 16th century, when the inhabitants of the area sought to put all the lard surplus to good use. This lard derived from the pigs that were slaughtered in the winter.

My grandmother calls these little biscuits "hazelnut pastries" in her notebook, but they are suspiciously similar to mantecados... Here's the recipe:

Mantecados de avellana (Hazelnut mantecados)
Yields between 25 and 35, depending on the size of the cutter.

• 200 g all-purpose flour
  
• 200 g hazelnuts (please use unroasted and unshelled hazelnuts where possible. Shelling and roasting them is not such a great effort and the flavor is much better. If you don't like hazelnuts, you can use almonds.)
  
• 150 g powdered sugar
• 100 g pork lard (good quality, it mustn't smell)
• 2 tsp baking powder
  
• A dash of olive oil
  

My grandmother didn't give any direction on the type of sugar used, oven temperature, baking time, how to knead the dough... typical from somebody who knew her way around in pastry making. Unlike me. The first time I tested the recipe I concluded that the sugar had to be powdered, because otherwise you notice an annoying crunch with every bite.

First shell the hazelnuts. Then roast them in the oven, preheated to 120 ºC, 20 minutes is enough in my case though this depends largely on your oven. Watch the hazelnuts closely as they can burn easily. Don't let them brown excessively. When the skin is cracked, take them out and leave to cool. They can be easily shelled just by rubbing them between the palm of your hands. Throw the skinned hazelnuts in a food processor and grind them. Don't overdo it or the mixture will be too oily. We don't want them to release their oil, we're interested in a somewhat coarse meal. Then mix the hazelnut meal, the sugar and the flour. Melt the pork lard. I skipped the baking powder and the oil, I think they're not necessary at all. Pour the lard over the rest of the ingredients and mix by hand. The dough may seem very crumbly at first, but after a while, when the lard is absorbed by the solids, you have to be able to make a lump of dough that stays amalgamated by clenching a portion of dough in your hand. It's difficult to explain what the texture needs to be to someone who've never eaten mantecados. The dough has to keep together but stay somewhat crumbly at the same time. It may be necessary to add some more lard if the dough is still too crumbly after say 5 minutes. Add it little by little. Then roll the dough to 1 cm thickness (I made them thinner... careless). The edges can crumble, but they can be compacted by hand. Then choose a simple shaped cookie cutter, a small glass or something similar. Don't use complicated shapes. The first time I tried this recipe I used a very lovely and tiny moose cutter. The biscuits looked good, but all the moose's legs ended up amputated... these biscuits are too fragile and delicate. What a horrible massacre. One minute's silence for the moose's legs...



Well then, cut the shapes and transfer them to a parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Put it in the fridge at least half an hour for the lard to set. Preheat the oven to 180 ºC. Put the mantecados in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes in a convection oven. Watch them closely to prevent the edges from burning.

When they are nicely browned at the edges, take them out and let them cool on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool (I didn't do it because they were sweet enough for me, but it's a matter of personal taste). The smell of hazelnuts permeates the whole house... And they are incredibly easy to make.



With this recipe I want to wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and all those things... hope you've been good and Santa brings you all you asked for... I love to watch movies at Christmas and besides some good ol' Spanish classics, I always go back to this one all-time classic... don't you think it's time to revisit it?

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Sugar-free Christmas compote, Spanish style

This is a very classic dessert in many countries of Europe, with different tweakings. In my crusade against common sugar, I decided to try and make it sugar-free. It's incredibly easy and you can get as tipsy as ever while eating alcohol-oozing-fruits, but with less bad conscience... my family is gonna give me a medal for that, I know it. Well, most of the alcohol just evaporates during the cooking. Pity. Instead of using red wine for poaching the fruit, which is the traditional ingredient in Spain, I prefer sweet wine, preferrably light in color for a nicer look and a milder taste. I looove sweet wine and besides you don't need to add as much sugar or sweetener in this case, as the sweet wine is... well, sweet, brimming with healthy fruit sugars.


Regarding the fruity ingredients, it's totally up to you. I'm giving here the fruits of my choice, but that's very personal. Some people prefer it with more fresh fruit, others with more dried fruit... Here's my take on this dish:

Sugar-free Christmas compote, Spanish style

• 250 g pitted dried apricots
  
• 100 g pitted dried dates
  
• 100 g pitted dried prunes
  
• 200 g dried figs
  
• 2 firm pears (Conference for example)
• 500 ml white sweet wine like moscatel (you can use a tawny port too)
  
• 500 ml water
  
• 1 stick cinammon
  
• 1 tsp allspice (optional)
• 1 dash orange extract or 1 tsp orange zest (also optional)
  

Some people like to add apple too, but the apples must have a very firm flesh, so that they don't "deconstruct". Please use the best quality dried fruit available. It makes a difference. In Spain dried fruit is very popular and usually of good quality. Dried fruit is eaten in tons around Christmas.

The preparation is pretty straightforward. Peel the pears, quarter them and put all the ingredients together in an enameled pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer until all the fruit is tender, around 40-50 minutes depending on the ripeness of the fresh fruit and the freshness of the dried fruit. I boil the compote without any sweetener and then try for sweetness when done, because you can always adjust it later. In this case the result was, in my humble opinion, sweet enough, which means I was using a VERY sweet wine. So I didn't add anything else. If more sweetness is needed, please avoid filthy synthetic sweeteners like aspartame and use natural sweeteners like agave syrup and maple syrup.


If you find the liquid too thin, just add some powdered gelatin or agar-agar to thicken it a bit. Remember that without sugar you don't get a syrupy liquid.

There's something that's often overlooked when subtituting sweeteners, whether natural or synthetic, for sugar: its preserving properties. Sugar is a hygroscopic substance, which means that it "scavenges" the water surrounding its molecules. Therefore the sugar molecules "steal" the water that microorganisms need to thrive. I can't give you the reference where I found this... I don't remember. Believe me, I'm a chemist... (pause)... (silence)... you, at the end of the class, I won't tolerate any giggling... Well, that's why this sugar-free compote must be kept in the fridge and I guess its "shelf-life" will be shorter than if it was sugar-full. Of course, you can always store it in jars and sterilize them, like any other preserve. But I'm sure the compote will have no time to go bad at my home. This compote is delicious served with vanilla ice-cream or on a waffle cup with custard... yum.

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Daring Cooks' challenge December: Salmon en croûte

I was very pleased when the Daring Cooks' challenge of this month was revealed, because I love salmon. Therefore I had to love a salmon fillet wrapped in short crust, a.k.a., salmon en croûte. En croûte dishes are typical in French cuisine, the croûte being the dough in which they are wrapped. If there's any French in the room, please correct me if I'm wrong. So here's my take on this scrumptious dish.


The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

Salmon en croûte

• 150 g mascarpone or any cream cheese
• 120 g watercress, rocket and spinach
• 1/2 kg shortcrust pastry (you can use store-bought pastry, but I always make my own, recipe follows)
• 500 g salmon fillet
• 1 medium egg
  

For the shortcrust pastry:

• 280 g all-purpose flour
  
• 125 g cold butter
  
• 1 pinch salt
• 100 g cold water

To prepare the crust, first weigh the flour and butter. Dice the butter and toss it in the flour. Mix it in a food processor until you obtain a crumbly mixture. Add the salt, mix and pour the cold water. I always use the water at fridge temperature. Then mix on high speed until the dough coheres and you get a nice ball. Don't overmix it. Then roll it to at least 1 cm thickness, lay on plastic film and then on a large tray that can fit into the fridge. Cover with another sheet of plastic and put in the fridge to cool.


While the dough is resting prepare the filling. Wash the vegetables, pat them dry and mix with the cheese in a food processor, until you get a smooth green cream. I only used spinach and the result was very mild, but I prefer it that way. I'm sure the flavor will be sharper if you add the rocket and watercress too.

The recipe called for making a large package with the whole salmon fillet, so that it could be served in large slices. I preferred to try and make individual little packages, although my size estimation wasn't very... ahem, accurate. In the end each "little" package sufficed for 2 people, because the assembly is quite... nourishing. But anyway I'm sure this would also be a great combination in empanadas size.


Heat the oven to 200 ºC. In the meantime, take the dough out of the fridge and roll it thin. Lay the salmon fillet or pieces of fillet on the dough. Sprinkle the salmon with the salt and spread the vegetables-cheese cream on it. Then close the package by brushing the edge with a little water and pressing with the tines of a fork. Transfer the packages to a baking dish. My intention was to make a fish-looking croûte... but I didn't quite succeed. Judge for yourselves. I need some more practice... I'm willing to learn by making this dish some other time... I will make this sacrifice. Back to the point, slash the dough surface in a couple of places so that the steam can come out (I forgot it!). Then beat an egg and use it to brush all the croûte. When the oven is hot enough, put the dish into it and bake for half an hour.

I really liked this dish, we had a family meal and everybody loved it. The flavors meld wonderfully. You can't clearly make out the flavors of the vegetables and cheese and at the same time the salmon flavor is tempered... very tasty result. Wonderful with a good white wine, for an elegant main course on New Year's Eve... remember we have dinner at 10 in Spain... we're crazy.

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Glazed guitar cookies or how I learnt to stop worrying and love glazing

I'm not including any recipe in this post, in fact I just wanted to share the cookies' photos. I had been wanting to try my hand at glazing cookies already for a long time, but I chickened out every time the thought crossed my mind. But finally a few days ago I found the strength to tackle this challenge. I decided to make glazed guitar cookies for my eldest's birthday. He's learning to play electric guitar and loves Heavy Metal (nobody's perfect), therefore what could be better that some lovely little orange guitars, orange being his favourite color...



There are plenty of cookie making and glazing tutorials in the net, like the ones at this site (by the way, very kind and helpful people down there). You can choose your favourite tutorial, also on YouTube. As you can see, I have a somewhat unsteady hand, but I can tell you that it took only 15 seconds for the 18 guests at the birthday party to eat 60 cookies. And I got raving reviews...

For those of you who have never glazed cookies before, I must warn you that it's a time consuming task, even if you use the most suitable equipment (which I had, because I had furnished myself with all the necessary gadgets). I believe I spent one evening from 6 to 10 for the glazing alone. I guess practice will make perfect... I hope, and shorter too. But on the other hand, I had a grand time. I really felt like a child playing with PlayDoh, a real regression to childhood. And besides... to get to amaze all family, friends and relatives... that's priceless.



I'm sending these cookies to the Virtual Holiday Cookie Crawl hosted by the Gourmet Girl Magazine, be sure to check it out!

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Chocolate chili con carne

Although it's not a very Spanish dish, I love chile con carne. When my partner and I were dating, we used to frequent one of those fast-food pseudo-American restaurants in Spain (so what?... they were cheap... we were young and in need of money... ahem) and I always ordered chile con carne, that was served at cauterization temperature in an earthenware little cazuela, with a hamburger on top and a slice of cheese with a radioactive color. Yes, disgusting. I'm not saying chile con carne is junk food, just that the quality of the restaurant wasn't... the best. Well, I've come to develop a somewhat finer palate over the years, which doesn't mean that I don't like some junk food once in a while. In fact, this type of restaurant is among my kids' favorites... what's the use of so much palate evolution? Never mind, for me to fight nostalgia for the old times when the fat I ate didn't love to accumulate around my waist as much as it does now, I prepare a homemade chile con carne, much yummier than that restaurant's chile and with an irresistible addition: chocolate.


This recipe comes from a cookbook called The Bittersweet World of Chocolate, though it's undergone some tweaking. I recommend this book, it not only includes scrumptious sweet and savoury recipes with chocolate, but tells some very interesting things about cocoa growing and trade. It makes a good Christmas present... hint. The addition of chocolate in this dish relates it to the amazing Mexican mole, one of the most incredibly delicious sauces I've ever tried. I still recall the first time I tasted it, in a Mexican restaurant in a backroad... picture it, Sicily 1920... no, New Jersey, last century... tears spring to my eyes when I remember that spicy mole de pollo... the impression was so unforgettable that I even remember the name of the restaurant 12 years later: Kiki Rios...

Chile con carne and chocolate

• 750g minced meat
• 250g boiled Pinto beans, with the resulting stock (you can use canned beans)
  
• 1 red pepper (the recipe calls for a green one)
• 2 medium onions
• 4 cloves garlic
  
• 800 g canned pureed tomatoes (the recipe calls for 2 tbsp only)
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 4 dried chilis (the recipe calls for 1 tsp of chili powder. The result is a lightly hot dish. The hotness can be adjusted to your taste)
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (more can be used, I add 3 tbsp)
  
• 2 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves (this amount is a bit excessive for me, taking into account that the allspice that's also added has a similar taste)
  
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice (you better grind it or add it wrapped in a net or inside a tea strainer, so that you don't bite into the grains)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar (I don't add this and I don't miss it)
• 120 ml bean stock
  
• Olive oil
  
• Salt

I also added a glass of red wine, a good addition for any dish... well, almost.

Start by peeling the garlic and then smash it. Dice the onions and red pepper. Pour some olive oil in a pan or even in a large casserole and fry the vegetables until wilted. I add the garlic nearly at the end so that it doesn't burn. Take the vegetables out of the pan and leave aside. Use the flavored oil to fry the meat on high heat. Stir to coat all the meat in oil and brown it. When done, return the vegetables to the pan or casserole and add the rest of the ingredients: beans (previously cooked in water with a bay leaf and some salt), tomato puree, ketchup and all the spices, along with the bean stock. Stir thoroughly, cover and bring to a boil. When boiling, turn the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Watch the inside every now and then and stir if necessary, so that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom. Add some water if it gets too dry. Or, if you can't resist your primal instincts... some more red wine.


After 45 minutes, try the seasoning and add salt if needed. You can serve it with boiled rice, but I prefer mine with an oven roasted potato... yum. This is a super easy dish, perfect for feeding a large bunch of people. And also fit for warming you up in this chilly Autumn... who could ask for more?

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