The Spanish love sweet things. I don´t think I´m making too much of a generalization with that statement. Not that they´re greedy, but a little cake or biscuit is always most welcomed with a strong cup of coffee at the end of a meal, or a big bowl of milky coffee if it´s the start of the day.
Dealing with preparations for our unexpected lunch for 12, I was lucky that I had already made some of Spree´s gorgeous Mexican Wedding Cookies for an earlier family meal. The recipe makes plenty, and they were hugely popular. The only change I made to these, as I was in a rush, was to grind all the nuts (I used almonds and walnuts) and not chop half of them. Lovely, lovely little biscuits and I´ll definitely be making them again.
Another quick recipe which came to mind was for Chocolate Refrigerator cake. I made this the night before our lunch party and cut the cake into small squares the next morning. These went down well too, and it´s a good recipe to make with little children as you only need a (supervised) heat source for melting.
Here´s the way I made it, although you can chop and change (or even omit) the fruit/nut filling.
250g crushed digestive biscuits (graham crackers)
100g butter
2 tablespoons of golden syrup or honey
3 level tablespoons of cocoa powder
About half a cup of “filling” – I used the last of my drained boozy fruits and added the grated zest of one lemon and one orange
Melt the butter with the golden syrup and cocoa then add to the crushed biscuits and filling. Mix well until everything is well coated. If you leave some large chunks of biscuit/cracker, you will have some pretty speckles in the finished “cake”.
Pour into a tin lined with cling film, flatten and press it with your finger tips then cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight until firm.
Cut into squares – it´s very rich so I tend to do “bite sized”. And that´s it. Doesn´t get much quicker or easier does it?!
Chica Andaluza 