The first book I ever read in Spanish was El Camino by Miguel Delibes. It was one of the texts we studied at A-level. I loved it. I remember it being captivated by the story of a boy and his friends in a little village in central Spain. The story is about Daniel’s emotions about leaving the village where he grew up, as he leaves to go to school in the city. Daniel, nicknamed El Mochuelo (the owl), and his mates got up to all sorts of adventures in the village, including daring escapades in the railway tunnel when the trains passed through.
But the image of the local village store is the one which I still have in my head after all these years. The shopkeeper sold biscuits in her shop but, more importantly for Daniel and his friends, she had a cat. Just like all the cats we’ve had the honour to live with, this cat loved to sit in the sun. Its preferred spot was the shop window where the biscuits were displayed. The boys, eager to save their hard-earned pocket money, would buy the cheaper biscuits that the cat had sat on.
Roscas de Pascua – a family recipe
An Easter recipe for Roscas de Pascua which Javi, a Spanish family friend, sent me recently, reminded me of the story in El Camino. Javi’s mum, who lives in Leon in northern Spain, makes these biscuits during la Semana Santa (Holy Week), in a tradition rather like my Grandma’s Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday. Javi’s sister in law’s mum also makes Roscas de Pascua but hers are fried rather like churros.
In fact, there is a wide variety of Roscas de Pascuas, which are made over the Easter festivities, and cakes made for other festivals such as the brioche wreath, Roscon de Reyes for El Dia de los Reyes on 6 January. Here’s the recipe from ‘la madre de Javi’ which I’ve translated from Spanish.
Ingredients
1 egg and 1 egg yolk (freeze the egg white to use later)
110g granulated sugar
90g butter (cut into small pieces)
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbps aniseed liqueur or extract
Pinch of salt
245g flour
Preparation
- Bring the butter to room temperature.
- Beat the egg and egg yolk with the sugar until well mixed.
- Add the butter, cinnamon, aniseed liqueur to the egg and sugar mixture and mix well.
- Gradually add the flour and salt until it makes a soft dough.
- Place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and place between 2 sheets of baking paper. Then roll out to thickness of ½ cm.
- Use a large cutter (I used a 10 cm diameter one but anything between 8 and 12 cm is good) to cut out the rounds. Then a smaller cutter to cut out the middle (I used an egg cup).
- Prick each biscuit with 2 forks to make a sign of a cross.
- Place in the oven for 10–12 minutes. Keep an eye on them to check they don’t burn!
Very moreish!
Although they look deceptively plain, ‘Roscas de Pascua’ are very moreish. They have a crisp texture and a spicy cinnamon aroma. I made a batch last week and they keep well in an airtight tin. This quantity of ingredients makes around 10–12 Roscas.
Easter is an amazing time in Spain with processions through the streets and penitants carrying statues. I hope ‘la madre de Javi’ approves of my attempt at her Roscas. And just to provide reassurance, no cats were harmed in baking these biscuits – or sat on any of them.
¡Que aproveche!
Try your hand at baking Grandma Abson’s Simnel Cake for an Easter feast. You can read more about Grandma Abson’s life, her passion for baking and recipes HERE and head over to Instagram @grandmaabsonto see Meryl baking with her grandchildren.
