Spanish cuisine, like the country itself, is vibrant and colorful. Yet, even the most exquisite dish can be prepared with the ease of a professional chef, perhaps due to the simple and straightforward ingredients. Or maybe it’s because Spanish desserts are often prepared using ancient, time-tested recipes.

Naturally, Spanish dessert recipes in the north of the country differ significantly from those in the south. After all, Spaniards always try to use only the ingredients they have available. However, this doesn't affect the value or taste of the resulting sweet dish.

The Spanish are known for their sweet tooth! And from seemingly ordinary ingredients, they manage to create magical-tasting and graceful-looking curd casseroles and rice puddings, honey pancakes, and milky sweets. The most popular products are:

  • nuts and seeds;
  • various dried fruits;
  • chocolate;
  • milk;
  • eggs.

Crema Catalana

A favorite dessert among Spaniards, regardless of region, is known as "crema catalana." They say that once upon a time, a bishop was scheduled to visit a Catalan monastery. The nuns, desperate to prepare a sumptuous delicacy in a short time, created a completely different dish from one.

Crema Catalana - a hot Spanish dessert

The famous flan, prepared year after year at the monastery, suddenly transformed into something special. One of the nuns decided to speed up the process by adding a little starch to the dessert and simply eliminating the bain-marie. True, the transformed flan had to be served to the bishop hot. But this is precisely what gave rise to the name "Crema"—"scalding hot."

Today, Crema Catalana is one of the most popular Spanish desserts. To make it, you'll need:

  • eight yolks, no less;
  • half a glass of sugar (necessarily brown);
  • four glasses of regular milk (high fat);
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch;
  • one teaspoon of vanilla extract;
  • one cinnamon stick;
  • zest of half a lemon and half an orange.

Heat milk with vanilla and cinnamon in a special saucepan. Dissolve starch in a small amount of cold milk. Then whisk the yolks with sugar and add orange and lemon zest. Pour the milk and starch into the resulting mixture.

After removing the cinnamon from the saucepan, add the cold milk mixture to the hot milk, whisking simultaneously. Return the cinnamon to the saucepan, and heat the mixture until it reaches the desired thickness.

Now you can pour the Catalana into the molds, removing the cinnamon stick. Before serving, sprinkle the dessert with brown sugar and caramelize it under the grill.

Churros

Churros are traditionally made in the shape of a lasso.

Churros are thin pastries made from choux pastry, fried in a generous amount of oil; many call them Spanish doughnuts. This dish has always been cheap and easy to prepare, and it quickly satisfied hunger, making it a favorite among ordinary people. Spaniards love to serve churros for breakfast, dipped in melted chocolate.

To prepare baked goods you will need:

  • 1/2 pack of butter;
  • 3 eggs;
  • 3 tablespoons of sugar;
  • 1 cup flour;
  • 1.5 glasses of water;
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt;
  • vegetable oil for frying;
  • pastry bag (can be replaced with a thick plastic bag with cardboard tips).

Remove the butter from the refrigerator ahead of time to allow it to soften. Once softened, place it in a deep saucepan and add water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat and, without removing the pan, add the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is free of lumps and begins to pull away from the sides, forming a ball.

Then remove the pan from the stove and let it cool slightly. Add salt and 1 egg to the warm mixture and mix thoroughly until smooth. Then, add the remaining eggs one at a time in the same manner. The mixture should be smooth, even, and creamy.

Transfer the dough to a pastry bag fitted with a pre-selected tip—traditional churros can be shaped like a star or a circle. Heat a generous amount of vegetable oil in a deep, thick-bottomed pan until the dough floats. Pipe strips of the desired length from the bag and immediately fry them until golden brown. Remove the finished churros from the oil with tongs or a fork. To drain excess oil, place the pastries on a paper napkin or towel for a few minutes before transferring them to a plate. Optionally, dust the churros with powdered sugar or serve with hot chocolate.

Natalyas

Spanish dessert natillas

The origins of natillas, another Spanish egg dessert, are unfortunately unknown. Although many claim it has Cuban rather than Spanish roots, the Spanish, however, disagree. They adore this sweet dish. To prepare it, they typically use:

  • ten yolks of only large eggs;
  • a liter of full-fat milk (not less than 3.2%);
  • 10 teaspoons of sugar;
  • zest of a large lemon;
  • vanilla pod and half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon (you can also use a spoon).

Pour milk into a small saucepan and add first the vanilla seeds, then the pod, and lemon zest. Bring the milk to a boil and turn off the heat. Let the hot mixture steep for 15 minutes. Remove the zest and vanilla from the saucepan. Pour the milk into the fluffy mixture of egg yolks beaten with sugar. Heat until thickened. Before serving, sprinkle small portions of the natillas with ground cinnamon.