Claudia&Julia's Blog

Related to the family of flans and the puddings, Calatrava bread may be one of the easiest and most rewarding recipes to prepare. Its basic ingredients couldn't be simpler: milk, eggs and sugar, to which a portion of pastry or bread (hence its name) is added as the main feature. Basically, a classic egg flan only with a bonus. Not bad, right?

Please forgive me, I know there are countless wonderful frozen desserts today to beat the heat. A huge range of flavors, textures, colors... But I'm a romantic and, despite really enjoying all things new and novel, I can't do without the timeless sweets. That's why this summer we can't stop making this Whisky Ice Cream Cake and dusting off fond childhood memories.

The olive oil brioche I'm bringing you today has nothing to envy from the classic French sweet enriched with butter. In this brioche you'll find all the goodness of the original but with the added benefit of extra virgin olive oil.

When Claudia suggested I prepare a recipe with the Ilsa flan molds, I immediately replied that I wanted to make my tocinillos de cielo. They are such an exquisite and delicate bite that I wanted to show you how to make them at home. And the thing is, whenever I serve them at a gathering, they’re a hit.

The coca de forner or baker's coca is a flat, elongated bread very typical in Catalonia that was originally made with plain bread dough, brushed with olive oil, topped with pine nuts and sugar, and sprinkled with anise as it came out of the oven. Simple and very effective.

I don't know about you, but I can't think of a better combination than chocolate and walnuts. And if to this mix, which is already delicious, we add a good homemade pastry base, then we have... the best chocolate, walnut and shortcrust tart in the world!

Don't you love easy, showy recipes that make us look like real cooking pros with very little effort? I do. I adore them. Any recipe with minimal effort and maximum wow factor goes straight into the stash to be tried. And if I like it, it gets added to my cookbook ipso facto. That's what the ruffle milk pie recipe is like, pastel de leche arrugado or galatopita. The latter is the original name of the creation, of Greek origin, and it's to die for.

I had never made cabello de ángel and I even thought I wasn't a big fan of this sweetish concoction. This recipe is a special request from Doña Claudia, whom I thank especially because a homemade cabello de ángel like this one as it's meant to be is something else, not even comparable to the industrial bayonesas fillings I've known since I was little.