Desserts and Sweets

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blog

Lemon marmalade, Spain eating habits and la merienda

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blogCitrus marmalades are my favorite ones and since I already featured the recipe for orange marmalade  (one of the blog’s most visited posts!), today is the turn for lemon marmalade.

If you like very sweet marmalades, I have to warn you, this one may not be the one for you. It is citrusy, therefore, more tangy, but obviously, also sweet – otherwise it wouldn’t be a marmalade, right?

Lemon marmalade, Mama Ía blog

Lemons, Mama Ía blogAnd with this recipe, it’s time to address the beloved and most idiosyncratic meal in the Spanish culture: la merienda.

I could translate la merienda to something like the afternoon snack, the (more…)

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blog

Galette des Rois, the Feast of the Epiphany French style

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blogGalette des rois is not, as the name implies, a Spanish treat but a French one.  Usually made and enjoyed on the feast of the Epiphany, I thought this was a good moment to make it. 

Galette des rois, Mama Ía blog

Catedral Fort Wayne, Mama Ía blogThe feast of the Epiphany, celebrated on January 6, commemorates the visit of the Three Kings, the Three Wise Men, to baby Jesus in Bethlehem. In Spain, the feast is widely celebrated, marking (more…)

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blog

Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with Lemon and Coffee filling—and the First Circumnavigation at the IFLTA Conference

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blogChristmas is just around the corner, and nothing says Christmas more than Christmas cookies! This is at least the case in this part of the world where I live, where cookie exchange parties are common—and where shortbread sandwich cookies will be on our menu this year. Of course, they will share the dessert trays with chunks of turrón, polvorones in their silky wrappers, cute mazapanes, marzipan figurines, and the always present homemade nanaimo bar. Our three nationalities are always represented at our Christmas table.

Shortbread sandwich cookies, Mama Ía blog

IFLTA 2023, Mama Ía blog

Our exhibit table at IFLTA 2023 in Indianapolis

Thanksgiving weekend was the start of it all. After the yearly longed for and always warm gathering with our friends and family around the table, the long weekend allowed us to get started on the Christmas spirit. In a series of (more…)

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blog

Coca de llanda (olive oil lemon cake), a Valencian merienda, after-school snack

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blogCoca de llanda is one of the most popular after-school snacks in the region of Valencia homes, what we call “la merienda”.

A walk after la merienda, Mama Ía blog

A walk in the neighborhood after la merienda

Coca de llanda, olive oil lemon cake, Mama Ía blogLa merienda —merendar— is that mid afternoon “tentenpié”, a bite to eat between lunch and dinner, sometimes sweet, sometimes savory, a simple but (more…)

Lemon coconut mini tarts with passion fruit frosting, Mama Ía blog

Lemon coconut mini tarts with passion fruit frosting —and the Saint Valentines

Lemon coconut mini tarts with passion fruit frosting, Mama Ía blogValentine’s Day or, as it is called in Spain, el Día de los Enamorados or Día de San Valentín, is fast approaching, and as the feast demands, I like to make a beautiful dessert that will entice any sweet tooth. These lemon coconut mini tarts with passion fruit frosting spell love, even if they stray away from the customary red and pink. 

Saint Valentine, Mama Ía blog

German XV century Saint Valentine

Valentine’s Day is the first excuse for gift giving since Christmas. But in this case, and in most countries that celebrate the day, the gifts (more…)

Pears poached in wine, Mama Ía blog

Pears poached in red wine, the link to the Spice Islands and Miami 2022

Pears poached in wine, Mama Ía blog

If there was a dessert that my mom made very often when I was a young girl, that was peras al vino, pears poached in red wine. And I know what you’re thinking, and yes, drinking age is lower in Spain that it is in the US, but no, these pears have essentially no alcohol because all of it is evaporated in the making. 

Phew! Now that we have cleared that up, let’s move forward.

Pears poached in red wine, Mama Ía blogJuan Sebastián Elcano in Miami, Mama Ía blogPears poached in red wine are one of the easiest desserts to make, and now that I mention it, maybe that’s why (more…)

Blackberry tiramisu, Mama Ía blog

Blackberry tiramisu to celebrate the publication of my novel “I Was the First”

Blackberry tiramisu, Mama Ía blogIf you follow Mama Ía blog you may have noticed I’ve been away from this space for a while, but this post hopefully explains why. It’s a good reason, but to make up for my absence, I’ll treat you to a really sweet, beautiful recipe: blackberry tiramisu.

I Was the First, Mama Ía blogAnd I know, too, that this is not a Spanish dessert. But I was looking for a beautiful dessert, not only sweet and tasty but pleasing to the eyes, and this one checked all the boxes—and my current taste buds.

As you probably know —because I’ve posted about it before and it shows in my blog—, I have a second gig (or is that the first?) as a writer. Sure, I write for this blog, but (more…)

lemon tart with strawberry cream frosting, Mama Ía blog

Lemon tart with strawberry cream frosting, and Madrid’s Naval Museum

lemon tart with strawberry cream frosting, Mama Ía blogA layover of a few hours in Madrid can be very well invested, particularly if, as it happened to me, it was in April and not in June. News has it the wait time for passport control at Madrid airport this summer will not allow me to do this again. Or… it will have to be a shorter, but still sweet visit —just like the lemon tart with strawberry cream frosting (or more specifically, the mini tarts) that accompany this post: small and sweet. 

Museo Naval, Mama Ía blogStrawberries, Mama Ía blogI have been wanting to visit the Naval Museum in Madrid for a long time, and more so following the investigation that led me to write my novel Yo fui el primero, about the first circumnavigation of the world completed by Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, and (more…)

Bitter orange marmalade, Mama Ía blog

Bitter orange marmalade, the flavor of my Spanish breakfasts

Bitter orange marmalade, Mama Ía blogI can’t help it, but every time I have toast with bitter orange marmalade, or Seville orange marmalade, as the jar may be labeled, I think of my dad.

Bitter orange marmalade was my dad‘s, and also my, favorite marmalade.

Oranges in Taroncheral, Mama Ía blogOranges and lemons, Mama Ía blogFor years, during middle school and high school, our dining room table at breakfast time would become not only the family table where everyone gathered to convene before going on our way to school or to work, but also (more…)

Mocha cake with espresso frosting, Mama Ía blog

Mocha cake with Espresso cream cheese frosting —and my Valentine’s

Mocha cake with espresso frosting, Mama Ía blogWhen thinking of what special treat I’d make for Valentine’s Day I knew I had to find something with coffee. Dave has a sweet tooth AND he loves coffee. So mocha, the combination of chocolate and coffee, was a good option. 

I didn’t know, however, exactly what to make or how to make it, and I ended up going through recipe books and doing Google searches. Finally, taking a bit from here and a bit from there and then adding my own ideas, I ended up with this cake: mocha cake with espresso cream cheese frosting.

Fox Island Park, Mama Ía blog

I have to say I don’t like calling myself a recipe developer. I am not one, and I don’t intend to be one. I am not a professionally trained cook, so I do not (more…)