🇪🇸 Spain · Castilla-La Mancha (Toledo), Extremadura, Andalusia, Madrid, Mallorca
Sopa de almendrasSpanish Christmas almond soup
A sweet Spanish Christmas soup of milk infused with cinnamon and lemon peel, thickened with ground almonds and slices of hard bread, sweetened with sugar and served as a Christmas dessert, made ahead and eaten warm or chilled.
Origin and history
Directo al Paladar describes sopa de almendras as a sweet soup typical of Christmas tables, found in the kitchens of Extremadura, La Mancha, Andalusia and Mallorca and very typical of Toledo; Escapada Rural calls it a typical Christmas dessert in Madrid and lists it among Balearic Christmas foods. Its origin is not known with certainty. People say almonds, traditionally expensive, were saved for special occasions, which may partly explain their place in Christmas dishes.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 30 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 liter4 cups whole milk
- 1 stick cinnamon (canela en rama), ideally Ceylon cinnamon
- 1 strip lemon peel, without the white pith
- 50 g1/2 cup ground almonds (almendra molida)
- 50 g1/2 cup almond flour (harina de almendra)
- 30 g1/4 cup chopped almonds, in small pieces
- 50 g1 3/4 oz stale hard bread, thinly sliced; it must be properly hard
- 3 tbsp sugar, about 40 g
Method
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1. Bring the milk to a boil with the cinnamon stick and lemon peel and keep it at a medium boil for 5 minutes.
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2. Stir in the ground almonds and almond flour and mix well.
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3. Add the chopped almonds and boil for 5 minutes more over medium heat, stirring all the time.
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4. Add the sliced bread and cook for 1 minute.
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5. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves; taste and add a spoonful more if you like it sweeter.
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6. Cover with plastic wrap and leave it overnight, preferably outside the fridge.
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7. The next day, chill it in the refrigerator and take it out shortly before serving, in bowls with a spoon.
Notes
- Quantities follow the Directo al Paladar recipe for four (30 minutes plus a night's rest). Its method adds chopped almonds in step 3 but its ingredient list gives no amount; the 30 g here is our estimate.
- Directo al Paladar says it is a typical Christmas dessert, served cold, and can be made the day before, which spares work on Christmas Eve; it places it in the kitchens of Extremadura, La Mancha, Andalusia and Mallorca and calls it very typical of Toledo, adding that its origin is not known with certainty. Escapada Rural calls it a typical Christmas dessert in Madrid and says almonds, traditionally expensive, were saved for special occasions, which may partly explain their place in Christmas dishes.
- Use good bread, a day or more old, so it softens without falling apart; the soup thickens as it rests, so thin it with a little milk if needed.
- It is a different dish from ajoblanco (a cold savoury garlic and almond soup).
Adapted from Directo al Paladar, Sopa de almendras fría and Escapada Rural, Navidad gastronomica en Espana.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.