Murcian Cordiales - Christmas Cakes

We baked the Murcian Christmas specialty of Cordiales. These are the delicious little almond cakes, with angels’ hair filling. They are very simple to make, fun and sticky, taste scrummy and don’t hang around for long in our house. When you see these in the shops you know it’s Christmas, but I think they’re just too good to only have once a year (unlike Cadbury’s Cream Eggs – yuck!) and so I suggest you make some yourself.

Cordiales - Murcian Christmas Cakes

Murcian Cordiales
Ingredients
1kg of Almond Flour / Ground Almonds (you can make your own or buy it in small bags from most supermarkets)
800gms sugar
1 kg of Angels’ Hair (cabello de ángel) – it comes in tins
9 eggs
Lemon rind
Obleas – which are the wafer-thin edible sheets, a little like rice paper and found in most supermarkets
Method
1. Mix the ground almonds, sugar, lemon rind and the eggs together in a large bowl. It will form a sticky mess.
2. Place the obleas on a baking sheet.
3. Using your hands take out small balls of the dough, poke a hole in one end with your finger and squish a bit of the angel hair in the hole. Cover up the hole with a little dough.

Stuffing angels' hair in a cordiale
4. Form the ball into a small cone shape, place on the obleas and start on the next one.
5. Place in a hot oven (about 180º) for 25 minutes or until they are a little golden.
This makes about 40-50 cordiales – which is plenty! They last well (if covered) for a week or so, and are probably at their best the day after baking (unless you like them warm).