Canarian Christmas desserts

Canarian cuisine is home to a wide variety of unique dishes and, of course, a pastry full of authentic delicacies. Canarian Christmas desserts are very present in the island kitchens during these dates, such as: sweet potato trout, frangollo, bienmesabe or mole eggs, among others. In this article we will talk about them.

Christmas desserts from the Canary Islands, sweet delights

Traveling to the Canary Islands in December means being able to savor the typical sweets and desserts of each area and each island, since each one is prepared differently or has its own recipes that cannot be tasted in any other of the eight Canary Islands.

Among the most popular Canarian Christmas desserts are the trout stuffed with sweet potato, one of the most famous desserts of the islands, but also the herreño cheese with almonds, the sweet potato cagajones of Gran Canaria, the alfajores gomeros, mantecados de vino, almendrados palmeros and the homemade nougat, of great tradition in some islands.

Christmas trout, the most popular dessert

Trout are the main dessert on Canarian tables during the Christmas season. They are sweet pastries sprinkled with sugar. The most common are prepared with sweet potato dough, almonds and cinnamon, matalahúva and aniseed liqueur, but those filled with angel hair are also typical.

Traditional sweet potato trout, in Marca Canaria

As for the main ingredient of the recipe, the sweet potato, also known as sweet potato, is one of the main crops of the island of Lanzarote. It is a white or yellowish tuber present in many typical Canarian dishes, such as sancocho and puchero canario. Its sweet flavor makes it very suitable for confectionery, so it is used in the preparation of cakes, puddings and puddings, among other recipes with sweet potato.

Bienmesabe, typical of La Palma

Another of the most famous Canarian Christmas desserts is the bienmesabe, which we have preserved since the time of the conquest. It is a sweet made with ground almonds, eggs, cinnamon and a little malvasia wine from Lanzarote. Its texture is unctuous, grainy and thick, very pleasant to the palate.

Bienmesabe, canarian dessert

It is a very typical dessert of La Palma, the beautiful island, although its preparation is also very popular in Gran Canaria, specifically in the town of Tejeda.

Torta de vilana, a typical christmas dessert from Gomero.

The torta de vilana is a typical dessert of La Gomera and is usually prepared especially at Christmas and like many of the dishes that make up the recipe book of the Islands, in its beginnings it was a recipe of use. With this one, the leftover stewed potatoes from another preparation were reused, being these its main ingredient. To the potatoes was added a little of everything that was available at the time, eggs, flour, sugar, almonds, raisins... and from there came this delicious sponge cake.

Torta de vilana, Gomeran dessert

A sweet Canarian recipe book

In this selection of Christmas desserts from the Canary Islands , pestiños and rapaduras are not to be missed. The first is a simple sweet made of delicious strips of dough prepared with wine and aniseed, which are then fried and topped with honey. The rapadura is a cone made with cane honey that is combined with gofio, almonds or eggs.

The quesadillas typical of the island of El Hierro is a delicious cake to eat at Christmas. A mixture between the salty cheese of the area, sugar and cinnamon that is baked on a flour wafer. It is also typical to eat the marquesotes, sponge cakes covered with candied sugar accompanied by a fruit liqueur of loquat or orange.

Quesadillas herreñas ready to eat

If you are interested in the world of products made in the Canary Islands and want to know more about them, here are some articles for you to read and take some of the sweetness out of your mouth: Canary Island hot pepper, fundamental ingredient; Malvasia volcanica, the Lanzarote grape; Malvasia volcanica, the Lanzarote grape; Morena in the Canary Islands, tradition and beauty.

Paula Vera

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