Vega Baja almojábanas recipe with honey

Vega Baja almojábanas are not like a sponge cake or a fritter: the flour is scalded with boiling water and oil, kneaded with eggs, baked at a high heat and dipped in orange blossom honey. We follow the recipe from the Convega recipe book, which makes 15 pieces, just as it is published.

A village bakery sweet

Convega presents them as an artisan sweet of Arabic origin that is eaten all year round. They were traditionally the dessert at weddings, christenings, communions, birthdays and fiestas in the district’s villages. They are made in bakeries and confectioners’ shops, and the recipe book recalls that the recipe has been handed down from generation to generation. They are round in shape and are dipped in artisan orange blossom honey, and they are also called almojábenas.

A scalded dough

The water and the oil are mixed, poured into a frying pan and put on the heat until they boil. At that moment the flour is added to scald it, stirring constantly until you get an even mixture. There is no further mystery: the dough contains water, oil, flour and eggs, and the sweetness comes afterwards with the honey.

Next the dough has to cool. The recipe book gives no time for this, so the sensible thing is to wait until you can work it comfortably with your hands before moving on to the eggs.

The eggs and wet hands

The eggs are added gradually while you knead with your hands. The dough is very sticky, and the recipe book recommends wetting your hands so that it does not stick too much. It is best to do so from the first egg and not wait until your fingers are caked in dough, because it is harder to regain control once it has stuck.

Convega specifies 24 eggs for a kilo of flour. Have them ready before you start kneading and work on a large surface. The book mistakenly repeats the egg instruction in two consecutive steps: add the eggs only once, little by little, as you knead. This is the book’s quantity, rather than an estimate based on the size of the eggs.

Shaping, oven and cooling

Convega describes the almojábanas as round and gives a yield of fifteen pieces, with no weight or diameter per piece. As a cooking note, you can divide the dough into fifteen portions and shape them round on the tray, leaving space between them. This way of dividing and arranging the dough is practical guidance for handling it, rather than a size or a shaping instruction specified by the book.

The baking is done at 270 °C for 30 or 35 minutes. This is a very high temperature, so it is worth knowing in advance how far your oven goes. Afterwards they are taken out and left to cool before the bath, a wait the source does not quantify either.

The orange blossom honey bath

The orange blossom honey is brought to the boil thinned with water and left to dilute. The recipe book gives no proportions. When the honey is lukewarm, each almojábana is dipped in it and sprinkled with sugar on top, to taste. That sugar is not in the list of ingredients, although the last step does call for it.

How much time you need

The recipe book’s header speaks of 60 minutes, an approximate figure that is not split between the phases. Only the baking carries minutes, 30 to 35; the scalding, the cooling of the dough, the kneading, the cooling of the pieces and the bath do not. Allow more than an hour and do not plan on eating them fresh from the oven, because they have their wait before the bath.

Almojábanas contain egg and flour, and the bath contains honey: go over the 14 allergens if you are going to share them.

How to organise yourself

According to the recipe book, you will need a frying pan for the water and oil, a wooden spatula for stirring and a baking tray. Buy with a little to spare, because the egg list is long. Start with the dough, which needs to cool, and leave the honey bath for when the pieces are already cold.

Other sweets to compare

If you like traditional Valencian sweets, there are also the pumpkin fritters and the sweet potato pastissets.

For big tables

A fiesta sweet is usually thought of for many people. If you are organising a group meal, see how we handle local fiestas and ask for a quote with what you need.