A five-sense experience
Every new month, every season has a reason to celebrate, but, for me, winter time has always been special. Some people will say it is Christmas, some others will think about snow, and many will talk about the new year... However, as a student, winter holidays is the time to relax, the time to enjoy, the time to grow, the time to sense.
December means fog; it also means cold, coats, gloves, scarves, boots. It smells different too: the scent of burning wood from chimneys, roasted chestnuts on the streets, hot chocolate from bars, cakes and cookies from bakeries,... It also looks different: the greenish of the fallen leaves on the paths, clouds of steam rising from the surface of the rivers, the high naked trees waving pushed by a gentle but frozen breeze.
Families and friends usually join after a long term work and share their memories and expectations. It is hugs and kisses, it is past and present altogether and a time to spend in the kitchen cooking and re-tasting those old recipes that make us happy. Ancient flavours for a new beginning.
And that is what we want to share, smell, memories and flavours through our most beloved family recipes. Close your eyes after reading any of them and you will be welcomed to our houses, to our kitchens, to our dining-rooms. A five-sense experience.
Mantecados
Although it is not my own family recipe, it has become part of us as my daughter has taken it from her granny. Preparing these "mantecados" as a dessert to be eaten while enjoying a coffee in winter weekends has also made our friends invite themselves for lunch or just at coffee time.
Mixing the ingredients together, preparing the dough, cutting it with small moulds, adding some sugar on top of each singular cookie, and mixing the remaining dough once again doesn't take much time, but can become a bit of a chaos if all our six hands do not work as a real team.
Ingredients:
1 kg. of flour
Half a kg. of melted lard
400 gr. of sugar
3 eggs
4 small sachets of baking soda
Half a stick of vanilla
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
125 gr. of olive oil
125gr. of dry anis
Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients together and knead everything till the dough is homogeneous.
Using a rolling pin, spread the mixture until it is about half a centimetre thick.
Use different-shaped moulds to cut the dough,
Add a bit sugar on top of each cookie.
Place the cooking on a baking tray, preheat the oven at 190ºC and bake the biscuits till they are a bit golden.
Mussels
This recipe was made by my grandmother for my mother and her brothers and my mom makes this recipe in the night of the 24 of December for my brother and I.
Ingredients
mussels
garlic
onion
natural tomato
carrot
Preparation
First, we have to clean the mussels and cook them in a pan with water. Then we make a sauce with some onion, garlic, carrot and tomato . We cook the onion and garlic so that they become brown and then we cook the carrot and tomato and let it cook. Finally, we put the mixture in the blender until being a fine sauce. We put it in a pan and when it starts to boil, we add the mussels and leave it for 15 minutes so that it takes on the flavour of the sauce.
Grandmother croquettes
I have chosen this recipe because my grandmather makes it especially for me and my family. This recipe is so important for me because there is no one in the world that makes them with such a lot of love. I usually help her to make them when it is Christmas.
ingredients :
1 l. of milk
2 eggs
ham ( 300 grams )
flour
onion
bread powdered
oil
Preparation :
First, you cut the ham in small cubes and fry it in a pan. Put a spoon of oil.
Then, put 1 litre of milk and the flour together in the pan and cut the onion into fine pieces.
Then, put the onion in the pan and fry it. Then, when the mixture is cold, make the shape of your croquettes and you roll them with the eggs and the bread powdered.
Fry the croquettes in a pan with a lot of olive oil .
Rollo
It is my great-grandmother´s recipe; it always accompanies us at every meal, at every dinner and, especially, at every coffee. Preparing this roll as a dessert to have with a coffee at the weekends while we talk about trivial things and play cards with the family, has almost become a tradition. Between cousins we fight to get the best piece of roll, and as always, it tastes increbible.
Mix the ingredients, prepare the dough, put in the mold, add a little icing sugar on the top once it is already baked, and you cut and you see it is totally spongy. If you don't plan it well it can turn into chaos, that's why all our hands work all together as a real team.
Ingredients:
2 strawberry yoghurts
4 eggs
2 yoghurt glass measures of sugar
3 yoghurt glass measures of flour (brand: Tardienta)
1 yoghurt glass measure of olive oil (limited)
1 packet of Royal powder yeast
butter (to cover the mold)
bread crumbs (to cover the mold)
(If we make it with chocolate, add one measure of the yoghurt glass of cocoa)
Preparation:
Grease the mold with butter and sprinkle bread crumbs over it (to make it easier to remove from the mold).
Using a rod, beat the egg whites (without reaching a firm peak) and the egg yolks separately.
Continue beating the whites, yolks, yoghurt, sugar and flour together with the olive oil and the yeast.
Once the homogeneous mixture is obtained, pour it over the previously prepared mold.
Put in the oven, which we will have already heated at 100ºC during the preparation of the mixture, for approximately 1 hour.
IMPORTANT: do not open the oven door.
NOTES: -The mold is not completely filled, a little more than a half.
-Place it on the second rack of the oven.
SAN PANCRACIO
I have chosen this recipie because it reminds me when I was younger and went on vacation with my father to Peñíscola. Once I almost head-butted a jellyfish.
ingredients
one mango
one papaya
and a bit of grenadine
preparation
First, you peel the mango and papaya.
Then, you put away the seeds.
After that, cut them in cubes.
When you have all the pieces cut down, put them into the blender til it is tranformed in an homogeneous juice.
Then put the juice in a jar and add a bit of grenadine.
(Optional). When you serve it you can wet the edges of the glass with the juice and add some sugar to give it an extra of flavour.
HARIRA
There are many festivals that we can celebrate throughout the year. But the month of December is one of the Best times to celebrate with the family and enjoy.
We, as a tradición, whenever we get together with family or friendS there always has to be a lot of tasty and varied food to "welcome" the guests.
For this reason, at these times when we get together, we have to prepare food that, apart from being tasty, very good and most of as like it, has to be hot in order to keep our body temperature warm in order to have a lot of energy during the day.
We have famous and common dishes different from those of other places. And most of the time, at diner or Lunch there must be a bit of everything.
Traditionally from the North of Africa, this "dish" or bowl is like a soup. In Morocco most of the families prepare it for dinner, in festivals or when they have guests. It's usually cooked in winter because in summer nobody can eat it. It's also famous for being cooked for Ramadan's dinner.
Normally, it's usually accompanied with other things such as dates or with "chebakia", in this case, its taste is sweet.
PREPARATION
1. Wash and cut the Meat into small pieces.
2. Finely chop the onion, carrots, garlic, parsley and coriander.
3. In a pot, preferably a pressure cooker, add a drizzle of olive oil, and fry the onion and celery.
4. Add the minced meat (OPTIONAL), carrots, parsley, coriander, and salt to taste.
5. Later, add the spices: ginger, black pepper, turmeric and cinnamon.
6. Mix all ingredients and later add the chicken broth, the concentrated tomatoes and cook for approximately 35 minutes, with the lid on the pot.
7. After the time has elapsed, uncover and add the noodles and chickpeas, letrina it Cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
8. Remove from heat, and serve hot.
Caramelized Orange
I like to make this recipe because it is something that is done with the whole family and, at special times like Christmas, it is like a tradition
Ingredients
One orange per person
Liquid caramel
Chopped nuts
Process
First, we have to peel the oranges and cut them into slices with the knife. Then, we put the juice from the oranges in a bowl and put the orange slices inside the bowl. After that, we let them rest for 5 or 7 minutes. Then we put them in the plates and add caramel and chopped nuts.
ASTURIAN RICE PUDDING
Rice pudding is becoming a tradición in my family because my grandmother always make it for Chirsistmas Eve.
This dessert is one of my favorites because it has a lot of Mmlk and I love milk; for that reason, for me it is an amazing dessert and very nice to taste.
It is very easy to prepare but also you need some time to make it.
Ingredients:
• 250 g. of plain rice (SOS)
• 3l. of whole milk
• A little bit of salt
• The peel of a lemon
• 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 60 g. of butter
• 250 g. sugar
• Some cinnamon powder
Preparation:
First, we have to put the rice in a saucepan with a little water, and bring it into a boil for three minutes. During that time take care it doesn't stick.
Second, we have to drain it and put it back in the saucepan, but this time adding ½ of the milk. Then we add the cinnamon sticks, the lemon peel and the bit of salt.
When it starts to boil, lower the heat. In that moment, start adding the rest of the milk in small amounts for 2 hours.
Finally, add the sugar and the butter. Then keep in the heat for a few minutes. When you finish preparing it, you have to put it in bowls and wait until it cools down.
When that happens, you sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon powder on top.
Yogurt Cake
Here is my family yogurt cake recipe. I write about this recipe because when I was a child my sister and I always did it on Sundays to take it to school. We also do it when my cousins come to my home because they like it a lot.
You need:
1 yoghurt.
1 yoghurt container full of oil.
2 yoghurt containers full of sugar.
3 yoghurt containers full of flour.
1 packet of yeast.
3 eggs.
Preparation:
1- First, you have to put the yogurt and the eggs in the bowl. Then you mix everything.
2- When you finish mixing it, you have to add the oil, the sugar, the flour and the yeast.
3-The final step is to put it in the oven at 180ºC about half an hour.
Gingerbread cookies
I´m going to teach you how to make gingerbread cookies. I have chosen that recipe because they are very good, and I usually make them at Christmas with my family.
The ingredients you will need are:
450g of flour
200g of butter
100g of sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ginger
White or dark chocolate
Preparation:
First, you have to mix the flour, the ginger and the cinnamon all together. I recommend to pass everything through a strainer before mixing, but it´s not necessary. After you mix everything, beat the butter with the sugar together. Then, after you finish beating everything, you have to add the first mixture and mix it all together. Divide the dough in 2 different portions and put it on the fridge for 15 minutes. After that, roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and put it on the fridge again, but this time for 1 hour. After 1 hour, you can cut the dough with molds of Christmas shapes. When you finish cutting them, heat the oven to 180º and put them in. Leave them inside for 15minutes or a little bit more. When they are ready, let them cool for 5 minutes. Now, if you want, you can melt chocolate in the microwave and decorate your cookies with the chocolate! They are delicious!
Christmas Biscuits
This Christmas biscuits are noy my own family recipe but we cook every Christmas. This recipie is very important for me because I cook with all my cousins in the kitchen of my grandmother. We always eat the biscuits after dinner with all my family. They are my favorite biscuits!
Ingredients:
200 g. of flour
125 g. of butter
75 g. of sugar
5 g. of vanilla
Pinch of salt
Preparation:
1- Melt the butter.
2- Mix the vanilla, the butter and the sugar.
3- Add the flour and the pinch of salt.
4- Knead the mixture until it is homogeneous and place it in a bowl.
5- Put film paper on the bowl and put into the fridge for 30 min.
6- Make little balls or shapes.
7- Put in to the oven at 200ºC for 15 minutes.
8-Add decoration.
Butter cookies
When the Christmas days arrive, my family and I usually make cookies together as a dessert. We really enjoy mixing the ingredients, rolling out the dough, cutting it, making shapes and waiting impatiently for the result until we eat them. But without a doubt, what I like the most about the process is smelling them when they are freshly made.
They are easy to cook and we don't need many to make them. In the end, they are delicious, although they don't last too long, because we finish eating them right away.
Ingredients:
110 gr. of butter
80 gr. of sugar glass
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs yolks
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
200 gr. of flour
10 gr. of cornstarch
Preparation:
In a bowl, put the butter and crush it. Then, you mix it with the sugar, salt, egg yolks and vanilla essence.
Mix very well until the mixture is homogeneous, and then, add the flour with the cornstarch. Mix again until you create a dough.
Put the dough on a baking paper, and with a rolling pin, spread the mixture, forming a half centimetre thick rectangle.
Take the dough to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Use different-shaped moulds to cut the dough.
Place the cooking on a baking tray, preheat the oven at 180ºC and bake the biscuits till they are a bit golden, morel or less 10 to 15 minutes.
Let it rest for 5 minutes, and we will have the cookies ready.
If you want, we can add sugar on top, accompany it with a coffee or hot chocolate, or also decorate it with melted chocolate.
Cookies with chocolate
This recipe is not mine but what matters is making it with a family member and having a good time while you make it. I looked for this recipie in the Internet and in December I usually make it with my family.
We usually make a lot of cookies for the hole family.
Ingredients:
250 grams of butter
95 grams of sugar
1 egg
350 grams of flowr
1 spoon of vanilla
2 or 3 spoon of smalls cubes of chocolate
Preparation:
First put the butter inbthe microwave for some seconds to beat it easier. Put the butter in a bowl and beat it adding sugar. Then, add one egg and vanilla and beat.
Then, you beat and add the flour. After you make the dough, get it and make a ball. Secondly, put it in a bowl with cling film and in the fridge for one hour.
When the ball is big you add the chocolate (black or white) in small cubes and knead.
Later, cut the cookies into slides and if you haven't got a mould, you can use a cup
And to finish, put the oven at 180º C, place the cookies in an oven tray, and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes.
Enjoy!
THE COOKIES.
Ok, today I’m going to talk about a very good recipe that my neighbor told to my mother in an English video. I needed to make it last year and I really like it because it's really easy to do and It’s very tasty.
Ingredients
You don’t need a lot of things to do it; this it’s the list:
-280g. all purpose wheat flour
-125g. butter at room temperature
-125g. of sugar
-1 egg
Cookware
We need some kitchen utensils, and they are as follows
A bowl
A spoon
A mixer
Plastic film
baking paper
cookie mold
oven tray
Recipe
Step 1: We begin the elaboration of our butter cookies, so, in a container we add the butter, the sugar and, with the help of a whisk, we beat very well until we integrate both ingredients, then we add the egg and continue beating until we integrate .
Step 2: We add half of the flour and with the help of a spatula we integrate it, then we add the other half and continue mixing until obtaining a homogeneous mass, we form a kind of ball and cover with plastic wrap. We take to the freezer for 15 minutes.
Step 3: After 15 minutes, we remove our cookie dough from the freezer and then, on a flat surface with parchment paper, we place our dough, flatten it a little with our hands and then place parchment paper on top. With the help of a roller, we begin to stretch our dough until it is half a centimeter thick.
Step 4: With the help of a mold (the one of your preference) we form our cookies and when we finished, we remove the remaining dough and reserve it to repeat the process again until all the cookie dough is used up.
Step 5: We place our butter cookies on a tray suitable for the oven and cook them for 13 minutes at 180º Celsius. Once the cooking time has elapsed, we remove our cookies from the oven and let them rest on the same tray for 5 minutes without handling them (it is important not to handle the cookies when they come out of the oven to prevent them from breaking) after 5 minutes we place the cookies on some racks , we let them cool completely and we already have our delicious butter cookies ready!! Enjoy them!