Skip to content
LoginRegister
WhatToEat.Today
Recipes

All recipes

Vegetarian, or something you can't eat? Set your diet once and we'll hide recipes that don't fit.

60 recipes

Postre MassiniCustard sponge with burnt sugar top

Montevideo's birthday cake of choice since the early twentieth century, the Massini is two thin layers of sponge sandwiching a thick filling of whipped cream folded with egg-yolk custard, crowned with a thin glassy crust of torched yolk and sugar. Bakeries across Uruguay sell it on Sundays. Traditional versions sometimes add a sweet fortified wine to the custard; this one is alcohol-free. The custard is cooked to a safe 71 °C. The common mistake is assembling with warm custard, which melts the cream into a puddle. Chef's tip: if you don't have a blowtorch, put the sugared top under a very hot grill for a minute and watch it closely.

80 minParaguayanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarta de zapallitosCourgette and cheese tart

In Buenos Aires every rotisería sells tartas by the slice, and at home a tarta de zapallitos is baked on Sunday evening so that a wedge can go into the vianda (packed lunch) for school and work all week. Zapallitos are round green courgettes; ordinary courgettes work just as well. The common mistake is adding the courgette raw, which floods the pastry; sauté it until the liquid has cooked away. Argentine queso rallado and many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: bake the tart on a preheated baking tray so the base crisps before the filling soaks in.

70 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

FlaóFresh cheese and mint pie

Flaó is what Ibiza and Formentera bake for Easter Sunday: a shallow pie whose filling of fresh sheep's or goat's cheese, eggs and sugar is perfumed with spearmint (hierbabuena), set in a crust flavoured with anise. Families still take theirs to the village baker to be fired, and it appears on café counters in Sant Antoni and Eivissa town through spring. Traditional island fresh cheese is made with animal rennet; look for a vegetarian fresh goat's cheese or use ricotta made with a vegetarian coagulant. Many cooks add a splash of anise liqueur to the dough; this version uses crushed anise seed and water, so it has no alcohol. Chef's tip: tear the mint leaves rather than chop them, and press half into the filling and lay half on top, so every bite gets it.

85 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

EsterházytorteAlmond meringue layer cake

Named after a Hungarian noble family and claimed by both Budapest and Vienna, this torte is a showpiece of Viennese pastry shops, where it sits in the glass counter beside richer chocolate cakes. Five or six crisp-chewy almond meringue layers are stacked with a vanilla custard buttercream, then topped with white icing and the famous feathered chocolate lines. It has no flour at all, so it suits gluten-free guests. A common mistake is baking the layers too pale; they should be light golden, or they go soft and sticky in the cream. Chef's tip: draw the circles on baking paper first and spread the meringue to the line with a palette knife, so every layer matches.

140 minAustrianBakingGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bica de TrivesButtery cream cake

Pobra de Trives, a mountain town in Ourense, holds a festival every August in honour of its bica, a rich, close-textured cake made with fresh cream and butter from local dairies. It is baked in a rectangular tin, sold in paper and eaten in thick slices with coffee or a glass of milk. The sugar scattered on top bakes into a thin, crackly crust. A common mistake is overmixing once the flour goes in, which makes it tough; fold just until no streaks remain. Chef's tip: whip the egg whites separately and fold them in last for a lighter crumb.

65 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

CordialesAlmond and candied pumpkin cakes

Murcian Christmas tables always have a plate of cordiales, small domed cakes of ground almond and egg with a spoonful of cabello de ángel, the stringy candied squash jam, hidden in the middle. They are sold in every pastry shop in Murcia from December and baked at home in the weeks before Christmas, traditionally on a round of edible wafer so they lift cleanly off the tray. They should be crisp at the very tips and soft and moist inside. Chef's tip: make them a day ahead; the almond paste firms up and the flavour deepens.

43 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sachertorte

This dense, dark chocolate torte is Vienna's most famous cake, eaten in coffee houses all over the city with a cup of Melange and, always, a cloud of unsweetened whipped cream on the side. The sponge is made with melted chocolate and whisked egg whites, so it is fine-crumbed and slightly dry by design; a thin layer of sharp apricot jam runs through the middle and over the top, under a shiny, snappy chocolate glaze. A common mistake is pouring the glaze too hot or too cold; too hot and it runs off thin, too cold and it sets dull and lumpy. It is a cake for birthdays and Sunday visits, and it keeps well for days. Chef's tip: bake it the day before and let it rest overnight wrapped; it cuts far more neatly and the crumb softens.

120 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bizcochitos de grasaSavoury beef fat biscuits

A paper bag of bizcochitos de grasa sits next to the mate gourd in kitchens, offices and roadside service stations across Argentina, from Buenos Aires to the Andes. These little rounds, a couple of bites each, are layered with beef fat, so they flake and crumble, salty and plain enough to eat by the dozen with bitter mate in the afternoon. The fat is rendered beef fat (grasa vacuna), so they are not vegetarian; ask your butcher for dripping or render suet yourself. A dough worked too warm is the mistake that robs them of their layers; the fat melts into it instead of staying in sheets. Chef's tip: chill the dough for 10 minutes between folds whenever it starts to feel greasy, and prick each round right through so it puffs in flakes rather than domes.

60 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Linzer Torte

Linz, the Danube city in Upper Austria, has baked this tart for centuries, and it still fills bakery windows there all year, with extra demand in Advent. It is closer to a soft, crumbly nut biscuit than a pastry: ground hazelnuts, butter, cinnamon and cloves are pressed into the tin, filled with tart redcurrant jam and topped with a lattice. Serve a thin slice with coffee or tea. A common mistake is eating it on the day it is baked; it is much better after two or three days, when the jam soaks into the crumb. Chef's tip: chill the lattice strips on a tray before lifting them on, and they will not tear.

85 minAustrianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

EnsaïmadaSpiral sweet breakfast pastry

This contains pork: the name comes from saïm, the pork lard brushed over the dough before it is coiled, and it is what gives an ensaïmada its shattering, flaky layers. Mallorcans eat them for breakfast with hot chocolate or coffee, and at Palma airport you will see travellers carrying flat hexagonal boxes of large ones home as gifts. The dough is enriched with egg and sugar, stretched until thin enough to see through, rolled into a rope and wound into a loose spiral, then proved overnight. Chef's tip: oil your hands and the worktop generously before stretching, so the dough slides rather than sticks and tears.

78 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Alfajor cordobésJam sandwich cakes with sugar glaze

Córdoba's version of the alfajor is the soft one: two tender, slightly spongy honey-scented rounds sandwiched with fruit jam, usually quince or mixed fruit, and coated in a thin sugar glaze that dries to a crackly white shell. They are sold by the dozen in the sierras towns of Villa General Belgrano, La Falda and Capilla del Monte, where tourists buy boxes on the way home from holidays. Expect a gentle crunch, a cakey bite and a tart-sweet centre, best with a cup of coffee or mate. Overworking the dough is where they usually go wrong: knead it like bread and the rounds bake tough and flat, so mix only until it comes together. Quince paste (dulce de membrillo) loosened with water works well if you can't find a soft quince jam. Chef's tip: dry the glazed alfajores for 5 minutes in a barely warm oven; the glaze sets glassy and crackles when you bite.

70 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Alfajor santafesinoPastry discs with dulce de leche

Santa Fe's alfajor is a different animal from the soft cornflour kind sold everywhere else: three wafer-thin, crackly discs of yolk-rich pastry, stacked with dulce de leche, then dipped in a cooked sugar glaze that sets hard, white and shiny. Bakeries in Santa Fe city and along the Paraná river ship them all over the country in boxes, and travellers bring them home as the regional present. Bite through and the glaze shatters, the pastry flakes and the dulce de leche holds it all together. Thick pastry is the mistake that ruins the texture; it has to be rolled until you can almost see the worktop through it, or the alfajor turns bready. Some old recipes add a splash of cane spirit to the dough; this version uses only water and is alcohol-free. Use a thick, pastry-chef's dulce de leche (repostero) so it doesn't ooze. Chef's tip: bake the discs in batches and keep the rest of the dough covered; it dries out fast and then cracks when rolled.

120 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ponche segoviano

Segovia's confiterías have sold ponche since the 1920s: layers of light sponge brushed with syrup, sandwiched with thick custard and wrapped in a thin coat of marzipan whose sugared top is branded into a diamond lattice with a hot iron. It is the cake for a family celebration, or the sweet finish after a roast suckling-pig lunch in the old town. The syrup is traditionally laced with liqueur; leave it out, or swap it for orange juice, for an alcohol-free cake. Chef's tip: let the custard cool and set completely before assembling, or the layers slide.

120 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

AlmojábanasGlazed choux rings

In Aragonese bakeries, almojábanas are the rings stacked by the till at Easter and for local fiestas: rings of choux-like dough that puff up hollow and airy in the oven and are then brushed with a white sugar glaze that cracks as you bite. The name comes from Arabic, and versions are found from Teruel to the Ribagorza, some flavoured with lemon and others with anise. They are best the day they are made, with a coffee or a glass of cold milk. A common mistake is opening the oven early: choux collapses if the steam escapes before the shells have set. Chef's tip: beat the eggs in one at a time and stop when the paste falls from the spoon in a thick, glossy V; you may not need the last egg.

55 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ColacionesDulce de leche meringue pastries

Small enough to eat in two bites, colaciones have been Córdoba's sweet gift since colonial times, when they were made in the city's convents; today confiterías in the old centre still sell them stacked in paper trays, and visitors carry them home with the alfajores. A crumbly short pastry encloses a spoon of dulce de leche, shaped into a little dome, baked pale and then dipped in a glossy white glaze that hardens into a crisp sugary shell. They are lovely with coffee or mate after lunch. The usual problem is leaking: too much filling, or edges that aren't sealed, and the dulce de leche boils out in the oven, so use a level teaspoon and press the rims firmly. The glaze is a light Italian meringue, where hot syrup cooks the egg white. Chef's tip: chill the filled colaciones for 15 minutes before baking; cold pastry keeps its shape and seals better.

85 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bolas de fraileDulce de leche doughnuts

Friars' balls, to translate them literally, are a fixture of the Buenos Aires panadería counter among the facturas that porteños buy by the dozen on Sunday morning: soft, round yeast doughnuts, fried golden, rolled in sugar and split or piped with dulce de leche or crema pastelera. Children dive for them first. Inside they are light and fluffy, outside slightly crisp and sweet, and they are at their best within a few hours, with mate or coffee with milk. Oil that is too hot is the mistake: the outsides brown in seconds and the centres stay raw and doughy, so keep it at 170 °C and fry slowly. A thermometer helps a lot. Pastry cream is the other classic filling if you prefer it. Chef's tip: let the shaped balls rise on individual squares of baking paper and slide them into the oil on the paper; they keep their round shape and the paper peels off after a few seconds.

125 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

CarquinyolisTwice-baked almond biscuits

Catalan bakeries sell carquinyolis in paper bags, especially around Christmas and village festivals, and grandparents keep a tin of them to dunk in coffee, milk or, after a big lunch, a glass of sweet wine. They are cousins of Italian cantucci, but often rougher, with whole unpeeled almonds and a hint of lemon and cinnamon. Baked once as a log, sliced, then baked again, they keep for weeks. Chef's tip: slice the logs while still warm with a serrated knife and a single firm cut; cold logs crumble and the almonds shatter.

60 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cañoncitos de dulce de lecheDulce de leche puff pastry tubes

Look at the tray of facturas in any Argentine panadería and the little cannons are easy to spot: flaky tubes of puff pastry, baked around metal moulds and filled from both ends with dulce de leche, then finished with a snowfall of icing sugar. They come from the Italian cannoncini, but here the filling is almost always dulce de leche. Each bite is crisp, buttery and shattering on the outside with a dense, caramel middle, and they sit on the Sunday table next to medialunas and bolas de fraile. Undercooking is the problem to avoid: pale pastry goes soft as soon as the filling goes in, so bake until it is a deep gold all over. Use all-butter puff pastry, and metal cannoli or cream-horn tubes (or rolls of foil). Chef's tip: wrap the strips without stretching them, overlapping each turn by a third; stretched pastry shrinks in the oven and the tubes split.

55 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Canutillos de BergaraCustard-filled puff pastry horns

In Bergara, a market town in the Deba valley of Gipuzkoa, pastry shops have sold canutillos since the nineteenth century, and locals buy them by the tray for saints' days and family visits. Puff pastry is wound around metal cones, baked until crisp and caramelised, then piped full of custard scented with lemon and cinnamon. A common mistake is filling them too early: the pastry softens within a few hours, so fill them close to serving. Chef's tip: overlap the pastry strip by a third as you wind it, so the horns don't unravel in the oven.

65 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Carajitos del profesorCrisp hazelnut biscuits

Salas, a small town on the old pilgrim road through western Asturias, is known for these cracked, chewy mounds of toasted hazelnut and sugar. Local lore says they were first baked for a teacher at the town's school, and the pastry shops still sell them by the bag to travellers and to families heading home from Sunday market. They need only three ingredients and no flour, so they suit anyone avoiding gluten. Chef's tip: toast the hazelnuts until they smell like praline before grinding them; it is what gives the biscuits their deep flavour.

35 minSpanishBakingGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rosquillas de San IsidroAniseed doughnut rings

Every 15 May, crowds head to the Pradera de San Isidro on Madrid's southern edge for the patron saint's festival, and stalls sell rosquillas by the dozen: plain "tontas" (silly ones) and iced "listas" (clever ones). Many families now bake them at home that week. Old recipes ice the listas with raw egg white; this one uses a lemon and icing-sugar glaze, which is safer and sets just as white. Chef's tip: oil your hands to shape the rings; the dough is soft and sticky by design.

50 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Coca de llandaLemon and olive oil sponge

Every Valencian grandmother has a coca de llanda, a plain, fluffy sponge named after the shallow metal tray (llanda) it is baked in, and it turns up at breakfast, at afternoon merienda and in lunchboxes all over the Comunitat Valenciana. Sunflower oil and milk keep it moist for days, lemon zest perfumes it, and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top bakes into a crackly crust. A common mistake is opening the oven in the first 25 minutes, which makes the middle sink. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 10 minutes in the tin before it goes into the oven; the cinnamon sugar then sits on the surface instead of sinking in.

50 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Coca de Sant JoanCandied fruit and pine nut brioche

On the night of 23 June, the Revetlla de Sant Joan, Catalonia lights bonfires, sets off firecrackers on every beach and street, and shares a long oval coca: a soft, lemony brioche topped with candied fruit, pine nuts and crunchy sugar. Bakeries sell thousands, but a homemade one, still slightly warm, is something else. Some recipes add a splash of anise liqueur; this one uses aniseed instead. Chef's tip: give the shaped dough a long, slow second rise; a well-proved coca bakes up light, an under-proved one dense.

65 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

FartonsSweet glazed buns for dipping

In Alboraya, just north of Valencia, the horchaterías that serve cold tiger-nut horchata in summer put a plate of fartons beside every glass: long, slim, soft buns with a shiny sugar glaze, designed to be dunked and to soak up the milky drink without falling apart. The dough is enriched with egg, milk and sunflower oil rather than butter, which gives them their light, cottony crumb. They are just as good with coffee or cold milk. A common mistake is rushing the second rise; under-proved fartons stay tight and bready instead of airy. Chef's tip: roll each strip a little thinner than you think, about as thick as your finger, because they almost double in the oven.

45 minSpanishBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 24 of 60 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 1 of 3