Christmas desserts and sweets

On all the islands it is traditional to make “turrons”, or Christmas candy, above all of almonds, but also of chestnuts or chocolate. Most bakeries fill up their shop windows with candied fruits – oranges, pears, pumpkin, melon or watermelon, amongst others, sometimes coated in chocolate - “mantecados” and marzipans; one of the most sublime creations are the little cakes made of “pasta real” or peix de pasta real, different layers of marzipan alternated with egg-yolk sweet, and the "pa de figa". 

On 6th January the main feature is the “roscón de Reyes”, sweet festive bread in the shape of a ring, decorated with candied fruit. Its origin appears to be related to the Roman festivals dedicated to the god Saturn, to celebrate the longer days that came after the winter solstice. Round cakes were made with figs, dates and honey, and shared out amongst plebeians and slaves. In the 2nd century AD, a dried bean was placed inside the cake, and whoever found it was named king of kings for a short period of time. Nowadays the tradition consists of baking the cake with a little ceramic figure and a bean inside it: whoever gets the figure is named king, and the person who gets the bean has to pay for the “roscón”. 

In Mallorca “coca de turrón” is typical fare: almond and sugar paste placed between two neules or round wafers made of flour and sugar. Over the festive season people eat “cocas de Nadal” – similar to the “cocas de patata” found in Valldemossa, but made with aniseed -, and wafers (neules). And finally, “ensaimada” filed with “turrón” is also eaten. In some villages it is customary to drink almond milk; it was habitually consumed in certain religious orders, such as the Minims of Santa Maria. This “milk” is still made in this town, and in the neighbouring villages of Marratxí and Santa Eugènia, and served with sugar, lemon peel and cinnamon, and drunk hot, accompanied by “coca de Nadal”. Another tradition on the island is to go to people’s houses for hot chocolate and “ensaimadas” after Midnight Mass. 

In Ibiza and Formentera, “salsa de Nadal” (lit. ‘Christmas sauce’) is an authentic symbol of this time of year. Large quantities of it are prepared, and it is consumed over these days as a dessert or an aperitif, dunking a kind of sponge called bescuit de Nadal or coc de salsa in it. The sauce is made using meat stock mixed with a paste made from almonds, sugar, cinnamon and spices. In Formentera the sauce, also called Mossona, is prepared leaving on the toasted almond skin, which gives it a characteristic dark colour. 

In Menorca, as well as the sweetmeats common to the other islands, over the festive season people make pastissets and cuscussó. Pastissets are flower-shaped biscuits with five petals, made using sugar, lard, egg yolk and flour, white on the outside and yellow on the inside. But the star dessert is cuscussó, a recipe of Arab origin with as many versions as there are families in Menorca, but usually made of bread, almonds, sugar, lard, lemon, cinnamon, candied fruit and raisins and pine kernels.