July 22, 2013

Magdalenas

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Magdalenas

Magdalenas

July 22: Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

In a previous post for the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene, we shared a recipe for a shell-shaped sweet called madeleines. The tasty tea cakes from France require a special baking mold to get their distinctive scallop form. For those who like madeleines but do not have that particular pan can still enjoy something similar called magdalenas. The cute cupcakes from Spain taste just like its French counterpart but can be baked in standard muffin tins. Make magdalenas for a traditional Spanish breakfast treat and for observing the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene. ¡Buen apetito!

Recipe

(Adapted from Spain-Recipes)

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar, divided use
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 1 2/3 cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

Melt the butter and zest the lemon. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with ¾ cup sugar until light.

Magdalenas

While still beating the eggs and sugar, stream the butter and mix thoroughly. Stir in the lemon zest. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Gradually blend this into the egg mixture.

Magdalenas

Add the milk and mix until smooth. Scoop no more than half the batter into cupcake papers to allow for rising when baking. Sprinkle each of the tops with a bit of the remaining sugar.

Magdalenas

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven. Cool for five minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Magdalenas

Notes

  • Savor the citrus! Magdalenas may be flavored with orange zest instead of lemon.
 

July 22, 2010

Magdalenenstriezeln

Posted by HI Cookery under 07 July | Tags: , , , , |
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Magdalenenstriezeln

(St. Mary Magdalene Fingers)

Magdalenenstriezeln (St. Mary Magdalen Fingers)

July 22: Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

There is a mystery about St. Mary Magdalene—not from the fiction film and book, “The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown, but from what her feast day food represents. Magdalenenstriezeln (St. Mary Magdalene Fingers) is a coffee cake cut into strips like “fingers.” In various artwork (paintings, statues and engravings) depicting the saint, her fingers are curiously crossed. Crossed fingers were a secret symbol used by the early Christians to identify each other when their religion was illegal. Now it has become a superstitious symbol for hoping for good luck. But it is not a mystery that this traditional German recipe is a good choice to make on the Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene.

Recipe

(Adapted from Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf)

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup almonds, blanched and slivered
  • ¼-½ cup coarse sugar (we used Sugar In The Raw brand)

Directions

Cream the butter with sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs. Mix in the sour cream. Gradually add the flour and blend well.

Magdalenenstriezeln (St. Mary Magdalen Fingers)

Spread the dough in a buttered 8×8-inch baking dish (the dough should be no more than an inch thick). Sprinkle the almonds and sugar on top of the dough.

Magdalenenstriezeln (St. Mary Magdalen Fingers)

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven. Cool for about five minutes. Cut into strips like “fingers” and serve “crossed” on top of each other.

Magdalenenstriezeln (St. Mary Magdalen Fingers)

Notes

  • Learn more about finger folklore from Finger.com.