My heart leapt in mid-October when I first saw the Christmas light decorations being hung in my neighborhood. The Sevillian holiday light display is so elaborate that it takes many workers several weeks to get it ready for the lighting, which this year was yesterday. And while I didn’t attend the big lighting event in the center, not being a fan of crowds, I did delight in seeing the light displays around our neighborhood begin to shine!
My heart did NOT leap at seeing all the displays of Christmas treats and candy that also popped up in late October. I am of the strong belief that each holiday has their place – October is for Halloween, in the U.S. November is for Thanksgiving, and even though this isn’t the U.S., I wasn’t willing to concede that November is a Christmas month, and DECEMBER is for Christmas. So I quite literally ignored all the Christmas treats until after we celebrated our family Thanksgiving. After which time, yay! I was all too happy to start filling my shopping cart with all the different types of turrones, mantecados, and polvorón. The mantecados, especially, are good with a hot cup of coffee or tea, but this year, I have a new favorite Christmas treat: the Turron Yema Tostada!
The two most famous traditional turrones, Turron de Alicante (a hard nougat) and Turron de Jijona (a soft nougat), have been around from at least the 16th century. Yema tostada is a more recently invented, non-traditional turron, likely created sometime in the mid-20th century. Made with ground almonds, sugar, and egg yolks, turron yema is a deliciously soft, velvety variety that absolutely melts in your mouth. When that turron is then covered with a sugar glaze which is then torched much like the sugar atop a creme brulee, it becomes turron yema tostada – toasted egg yolk nougat. It sounds much more delicious in Spanish.
Yema tostada doesn’t taste eggy at all, it’s more reminiscent of a carmelized marzipan, so if you’re a fan of that (which I am!) you’re likely to be a fan of this, too. And now that the Christmas season is well and truly here, I’ll be popping a few of these in my shopping cart!
Ready to try all of Spain’s traditional Christmas treats? Email info@americansmovingtospain.com to learn how you could be here by next Christmas!
