Image THE DONUTS OF THE HOLY YEAR, PROTAGONISTS OF THE FESTIVITIES OF SAN ISIDRO.

THE DONUTS OF THE HOLY YEAR, PROTAGONISTS OF THE FESTIVITIES OF SAN ISIDRO.
2022/05/27

Ready, silly, French, from Santa Clara... and from the Holy Year of San Isidro. The essential quintet of Artisan Pastry Shops in Madrid

Coinciding with the arrival of carnations, chulapa dresses, parpusas and verbenas, the San Isidro rosqullas once again fill the counters of all the pastry shops in Madrid.

But this San Isidro is not one more. It is a very special San Isidro, because from May 2022 to May 2023 the Holy Year of San Isidro is celebrated, and this, like every self-respecting festivity, must have its own dessert. For this reason, the traditional "list, silly, French and Santa Clara" has been joined by the recently created 'Rosquilla del Año Santo ', which adds another ingredient to its formula, chocolate, and is only made by bakeries identified with the seal Quality Artisan Pastry from Madrid .

The Madrid City Council, through its Everything is in Madrid program, together with the Business Association of Artisan Pastry Shops of Madrid (ASEMPAS ), invites you to discover and explore the two sweetest routes of the moment, that of all the pastry shops in Madrid, where you will find the classic rosquillas and much more, and a very unique route through pastry shops recognized with the Pastelería Artesana de Madrid seal where, in addition to all of the above, the new “holy year donut” will be made and marketed.

So that you can navigate aimlessly in search of your favorite donuts, you can find all these proposals on our sweetest routes: the one with the pastry shops in Madrid and the one with the pastry shops with the quality seal Pastelería Artesana de Madrid .

Donut of the Holy Year Pastry Manacor

Donut of the Holy Year Pastry Mifer

The irresistible quintet

Although the origin is unknown, tradition says that 'Aunt Javiera', a pastry chef, according to some from Fuenlabrada, was to blame for everything; according to others, from Villarejo de Salvanés, who used to sell them at festivals or at the entrance to the bullfights. His donuts, curiously, did not have sugar in the dough, but brandy and were soaked in a syrup that he left to dry to tie them later with a twine (hemp rope). Literature has kept it alive in popular memory thanks to ballads, skits, songs. An example, that of one of the best 'portrait artists' in Madrid, Ramón Gómez de la Serna: “ Soon there won't be any, whack! / in Madrid duke or tacky / that with Tía Javiera / related is not ”.

The truth is that 'his' donuts have become part of the sweetest Madrid imagination, although the favorite, according to ASEMPAS, continues to be the list, which accounts for 50% of consumption, followed by the silly ones and those from Santa Clara, a 20%, respectively, and the French, with the remaining 10%. This year these figures will vary with the presence of the new one, the 'donut of the saint', covered with various chocolates to 'lighten up'.

The same base, but with five touches of distinction

The simplest are the silly ones, which are presented to us 'naked', without any kind of cover. Their recipe consists of a mass of eggs, oil, sugar, flour and anise. The lists , the favorites of the public, do not have aniseed in their dough and, after being baked, they are bathed in a sugar and lemon syrup to bathe again in a lemon glaze.

The Santa Clara donuts, derived from a recipe by the Santa Clara nuns from the central Monasterio de la Visitación, add a meringue to the topping, which makes them very crunchy on the palate. And they completed the quartet of varieties until this year, the French donuts, perhaps the least known of all and which arose, according to legend, from a whim of Bárbara de Braganza, wife of Fernando VI, who was shaped by the palace cook. With the same base as the silly ones, they are 'dressed' with a layer of egg yolk so that the almond grain batter sticks together. From there to the oven, and then a little icing sugar.

This year, commemorating the fourth centenary of the canonization of our humble peasant, one more has been created, with which the donuts are already a quintet. The 'San Isidro donut' incorporates a new ingredient, the covering chocolate.

traditional recipe

If donuts are a tradition at this time in the city, one of the traditional pastry shops, in this case a hundred years old, Viena Capellanes, reveals the secret of its recipe. Take note.

  • Ingredients: five eggs – 80 g. sugar – 150 ml. olive oil – 400g loose flour (bakery type) – aniseed grain – one more egg and almonds
  • Preparation: beat the eggs together with the sugar. Add flour and oil (and anise for the silly ones). Mix well until you get a homogeneous mass. Let rest for a few minutes on the table. Afterwards, the donuts are shaped by spreading them in a tin, bathed with egg yolk, (in the case of the French ones, the almond is added on top so that it "sticks"), once bathed they are ready to be baked.