Carquinyols (Vall d’Albaida style)

Carquinyols / casquinyols in a saucer

This is the type of low-key sweet that you would get on a visit to the bakery—go to buy a bread loaf, and come back with that but also half a quarter of these for your mid-morning coffee.

Unfortunately, someone in my family has developed a nut allergy so they’re not casually acquired anymore, and they’re also quite regional so I haven’t had the chance to find them in my most recent visits to Valencia. And then, there’s lockdown and no travelling, so… time to bake some, as I’ve been craving these for a while!

They’re quite easy to make, so if you are tired of baking cookies and shortbreads and feel like attempting something more exotic, try this. (I mean, at this point going to a different supermarket a few blocks away already feels super “exotic”, so imagine baking something typical from two countries away!)

Continue reading “Carquinyols (Vall d’Albaida style)”

Self isolation, week 4: purple week, purple week

Mona de Pascua

(to the tune of Prince’s song)

This week some significant events happened:

  1. There was a lot of purple-coloured things to consume
  2. Devvers found raspberries! And spring onions! It was the first time I saw spring onions in like three weeks.
  3. We got a food delivery that brought us twenty four eggs (yes, 24), amongst other things.

EGGTOPIA, just in time!

Continue reading “Self isolation, week 4: purple week, purple week”

Bollos de Sant Blai (Saint Blaise’s buns)

Bollos de Sant Blai

These sweet crumbly buns are typically made in Benidorm (Alicante) around the 3rd of February, which is Sant Blai’s patron day (Saint Blaise).

I had an older recipe which didn’t work out well. This time I more or less followed another blogger’s recipe (in Spanish). Thanks, Carmen! ??

A word of caution: these buns are pretty calorific, which might explain why they’re only made once a year. But on the other hand, they are gluten free, so if you want to make a sweet treat for someone who can’t eat wheat, this could be it.

Bollos de Sant Blai
Bollos de Sant Blai
Continue reading “Bollos de Sant Blai (Saint Blaise’s buns)”