Spanish Magdalena Muffins

I had these lemon-scented muffins sometimes growing up in Spain, and as an adult, I was able to find them in Portugal for my kids. Now in Italy, I get them during "Spanish Week" at Lidl, lol. But they're not always available, so when they're not, here is a great, easy recipe for them. They do use a lot of olive oil. That's not a problem for me here; since good-quality olive oil is so inexpensive, and I always have a lot on hand. If you're in the US, a cheaper olive oil would probably work fine. 

Note: Batter must be chilled before baking. 

Spanish Magdalena Muffins

adapted from The Mediterranean 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (210g)
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar (150g), plus extra for sprinkling
Zest from 1 lemon
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (160ml)
1/4 cup whole or 2% milk (80ml)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Beat the eggs. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest on medium-high speed until pale and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes.

2, Add the wet ingredients: While continuing to beat the eggs on medium-high speed, pour in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Pour in the milk and vanilla extract, and mix on low until incorporated.
Fold in the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture and carefully fold with a rubber spatula until the mixture is combined and no dry lumps of flour remain, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

3. Chill the batter- cover the bowl and let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour. About 20 minutes before the muffin batter is done resting, preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a standard muffin pan with muffin tin liners. Scoop or pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, dividing it evenly among the 12 wells. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a pinch of granulated sugar.

4. Bake the muffins: Set the muffin pan in the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

5. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

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Homemade Churros

These were so much fun to make!  We made them back during our "Spring Break" while we were locked down.  We ended up making three batches that first day, lol!  Then I had to make them again, since we ate them so fast that first time that I never got a pic.  We did use a churro maker for this.  Supposedly one can use a pastry bag, but I didn't want it to burst everywhere, so I got a "Star Blue" churro maker from Amazon. It works very well!  And has a lot of different tip designs for the nozzle.  If you choose to use a pastry bag, I'd view some Youtube videos first to get the gist of what to do.  

These were easier to make than I thought.  You cook together a simple dough on the stove and then pipe it out.  We didn't pipe these out right into hot oil, but rather piped them onto a sheet of parchment paper (a few pics down) so we could lift them up and into the oil when we were ready.  It worked out well; they didn't stick to the paper at all.  The hardest part of these is cleaning up any mess you might make from deep-frying.  (Not my fave thing at all, but worth it every once in a while... like once or twice a year.  Lol.)

We coated these in just sugar, like in Spain (no cinnamon there), or ate them plain; my fave way to eat them when I was a kid in Spain.  We served these with thick Italian hot chocolate; similar to the Spanish version.

Homemade Churros

adapted from Star Blue's Churro Cookbook

1 cup water

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons canola, sunflower, or vegetable oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 quarts (more or less, depending on what pan you use) oil for frying

1/2 cup white sugar, to taste

1 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste (optional; we left it off)

1.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons oil.  Bring to a boil and remove from heat.  Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.  

2.  Heat oil for frying in deep-fryer or deep skillet or saucepan to 375 F.  (190 C).  Pipe strips of dough onto sheets of parchment paper and lift into oil when ready, OR pipe directly into hot oil using a churros maker or piping bag.  Fry until golden; drain onto paper towels.  

3.  Place sugar (and optional cinnamon) in a shallow bowl.  Roll drained churros in sugar and serve.  

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More Spain Pics

These are mostly pics of churros and the churros stand.  Lol!!  This is the same churros stand that was there when I lived there, with the same people. I love churros, especially from them.  I'll also include some other Spain pics below all of these churros. 

Above, churros gordos frying.  Below, regular churros frying.  I prefer the regular.  

 Above and below, the bullring of El Puerto de Santa Maria.  

Above and below, Puerto Sherry.

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Spanish Food!!!

You can't go wrong with pretty much any food you try in Southern Spain.  I was so excited to go back and try all of my old favorites.  These phone pics, mostly taken at night-time, aren't the best, but I love them anyway.  We went to one of my old favorite restaurants 3 times for dinner.  The food was so good, and cheap, with big portions.  For our fam of 6 it was only 78 Euros one night, and we got appetizers and desserts!!  In Italy, with no appetizers/desserts it's always 130 Euros for our fam to go out to a sit-down restaurant.  Spain, I miss you!! Pictured above, grilled swordfish.  Below, fried green peppers. 

 Above, Garlic Chicken.  Below, garlic olives. 

 Above, warm bread, with butter packages underneath.  Below, calamari. 

Above, Jamon breakfast sandwich with Cola Coa.  SOOOO GOOD!!!  Below, some tapas we got, including patatas bravas and fries with a fried egg on top. 

 Above, churros gordos with chocolate in Ronda.  Below, Cola Coa for sale in Carrefour.  (The old Pryca's.)

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Ronda, Spain

On our trip to Spain, we took a day trip to Ronda with our rented car.  It was a beautiful drive through some national parks/forests, and we saw lots of olive and cork groves, plus even a chameleon crossing the road!!  I was so excited.  I used to see chameleons in the pine forests in Spain by my house.

Ronda is beautiful and historic.  We walked the tiny streets, got churros gordos con chocolate, visited the bullring, saw the bridge/gorge from above and below, strolled the gardens, and experienced a flamenco show, with tapas.  It was a great day.  The horse and carriage above was parked by the gardens near the bullring.  I recommend the Flamenco show.  It was at El Quinque.  I think it was 12 Euros a person and included a drink.  We ordered tapas on top of that.  No pics of food yet- I'm saving all the Spanish food pics for a seperate post.

We stopped for this view of Arcos on the way home.  We had planned on visiting it too, but were way too tired. Below, gorgeous wildflowers we saw on the drive home.  Spain the in the Spring is just gorgeous.

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Southern Spain Trip

Back in April, we took a family trip to Southern Spain, where I spent some time growing up in the 90's.  It was a wonderful trip.  The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed everything.  I have so many pics I'll divide the trip up into a few posts.  This post will just have some general pics. Above and below, my old beach.  In the top picture, you can see Cadiz in the distance. 

 The Osborne bulls and Tio Pepe dot the country road-sides everywhere in this region of Southern Spain!!

 A beautiful house with bougainvillea spilling over the walls. 

Our breakfast of Cola Cao and Magdalena muffins!

Above, La Giralda tower attached to the Sevilla Cathedral.  Below, Plaza de Espana in Sevilla.  More pics to come later. 

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