Besitos De Santa Clara

Los besitos de Santa Clara is an original recipe from the convent of Santa Clara de Repariegos (in the province of Segovia). This dessert consists of two buns with cream in the middle and covered with grated coconut.

Although the recipe is a bit complicated, especially the part of the pastry cream, these sweets are ideal to invite your friends (or your mother-in-law) to have coffee and give them something light and delicious. Below we detail it step by step.

Santa Clara kisses recipe

First of all, this recipe is your chance to show your pastry skills when making cream, one of the key tests of baking. So go ahead and prepare this recipe for Santa Clara kisses and you will see that you are going to surprise everyone.

Ingredients:

For the pastry cream:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of liquid cream or whole milk (500 ml)
• 6 tablespoons of sugar (90 g)
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (20 g)

For the Santa Clara kisses:

• 2 cups of pastry cream (500 ml)

• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (45 ml)
• 5 tablespoons of milk (75 ml)
• 5 tablespoons of sugar (75 g)
• 2 cups of flour (250 g)
• 4 pieces of soda or 1 sachet of baking powder (10 g)
• grated coconut
• Loose-strand syrup or milk with sugar

Utensils:

For the pastry cream:

• Manual rods
• 1 saucepan
• 1 small bowl

For the Santa Clara kisses:

• 1 bowl
• Manual rods
• Pastry bag
• Oven plate
• Baking paper
• 1 saucepan
• 1 bowl

preparation:

From the pastry cream:

• First, in a saucepan, beat the eggs well with the sugar.
• Then, dilute the cornstarch with a part of the cream (or milk) and mix it well with the eggs, until it is a uniform mixture.
• Then add the rest of the cream and bring to the heat, stirring so that it does not stick,  until a thick cream is formed.

Of the kisses of Santa Clara:

• To start, in a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until a white mixture forms.
• Then add the olive oil together with the milk and flour and beat well to incorporate it so that there are no lumps.
• Then add the yeast or mixed sodas.
• Mix everything until a uniform dough is left.
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• Next, put the mixture in a pastry bag and place small piles of dough on a baking tray already lined with greaseproof paper, making sure that they are all more or less the same size.
• Meanwhile, make the syrup and let it warm, or heat the milk with the sugar until it dissolves. Let it cool down to room temperature.
• Then, when the cakes are done, place a little cream on half of them and place the other half on top, pressing a little until the cream reaches the edges.
• Next, dip the cakes in the syrup and coat them in the grated coconut.

• Finally, leave them to rest in the refrigerator overnight so that they settle.

Data of interest:

• Difficulty: medium
• Cream preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cake preparation time: 45 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes
• Chilling time in the refrigerator: 12 hours
• The loose-stranded syrup is made by mixing equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and adding a glass of sweet wine. Then stir and heat until boiling. Have boiling for 5 minutes before removing from heat.
• However, one way to substitute this syrup is with hot milk, in which sugar has been dissolved, which gives the same consistency to the recipe and a slightly milder flavor.
• To finish, the Santa Clara kisses keep very well frozen in an airtight bag, so you can make many and freeze part. In addition, to consume them you will only have to remove them a few hours before the freezer and let them warm up to room temperature or in the fridge.