Tocinillo de cielo – Bacon from heaven

Today’s recipe serves two purposes, to wish a happy father’s day to all of you who celebrate today this festivity and to commemorate the 200 anniversary of Spain’s first Constitution.

The tocinillo de cielo is a dessert typical from the south of Spain, more specifically Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz, which is where the Pepa (The Spaniards nicknamed the Constitution La Pepa because it was adopted on Saint Joseph’s Day) was born. As for its origin, the first accounts of this dessert are from 1324, it was created by the nuns of the Convent of the Holy Spirit of Jerez de la Frontera. Its origin is linked to the production of the local wine and the massive use of egg whites for wine clarification. The remaining egg yolk, were given to the nunnery, which, in order to reuse them, created the dessert “bacon from heaven,” one of the most emblematic desserts in the Spanish pastries. The name comes from its appearance and texture and, of course, its religious origin.

Ingredients

• 300 gr. sugar
• ¼ liter of water
• 12 egg yolks

Directions

Preheat oven to 200° C (390ºF).

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and prepare light syrup (20 minutes). Reserve.

Cover with caramel the bottom of several small ramekins.

Beat the egg yolks and in a very thin stream add the syrup, which has to be a bit cold to avoid curdling the yolks. Stir well and pour into the ramekins. Cover with aluminium foil and bake in a water bath (bain-marie) in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool before eating.

Enjoy!

Note: To any of you who may wonder what happened with all the egg whites, I made a Pavlova. Recipe to be posted this week. Oh! One more thing, you may halve this recipe and it will work just fine (It did for me)