Birdseed. Easter sweet

How to make birdseed for Easter.

The birdseed are typical Easter sweets in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in the province of Cádiz. Something similar to what happens with the gañotes of Ubrique (Cádiz).

They are such a local sweet that they are hardly known in the rest of the country, but today we are going to remedy the matter by sharing the recipe with you so that you can replicate them at home.

The birdseed is made from a dough of flour, egg, lemon and anise, cut into a diamond shape and baked that is glazed and left to dry before consuming.

They can be made in different sizes, but we like them as a bite. You know … ” great perfumes come in small jars .”

They are very easy to prepare, although the glaze has its own and it is convenient to follow our instructions to the letter so that it comes out delicious.

You already know that working with sugar is complicated if you don’t have a kitchen thermometer at hand, so don’t hesitate to get one if you don’t already have it. This little gadget will save you from a lot of trouble in the kitchen.

We really enjoyed discovering this traditional sweet from Cadiz Easter.

Perfect for after dinner, accompanying coffee or infusion on duty, French toast , pestiños and other traditional Easter sweets .

Preparation of the dough and shape of the birdseed

1. In a deep bowl, mix the egg yolks with the lemon zest and the aniseed. We beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.
2. Add the wheat flour in one fell swoop and stir. Initially we can use a wooden spoon or the like.
3. We will have to finish using our hands (so we make sure we have them very clean) because the dough becomes thick.
4. Knead until it is well compact and homogeneous.
5. Lightly sprinkle the work surface and, with the help of a roller, stretch the dough until it is very fine.
6. We could do this on a sheet of parchment paper, but the dough is not sticky so we will work well on the counter.
7. We use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut diamonds from the dough, making sure they are of a similar size.
8. We join the leftovers, stretch the dough again with the rolling pin and cut more diamonds.

Baking of the Canary seedlings

1. We place the lozenges of dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
2. It is not necessary to leave too much separation between them because they do not grow, so they will not stick.
3. Cook in the oven, preheated to 180º C with heat up and down, for about 15 minutes or until they begin to brown and the peaks curve slightly upward.
4. While the dough is cooking in the oven we prepare the syrup to glaze the birdseed.

Syrup to glaze and final presentation of the birdseed

1. To do this we put the sugar and water in a saucepan and place it on the fire.
2. We cook, without stirring or touching, over medium heat to form a syrup that reaches the soft ball point, that is, 120-125º C.
3. We remove the saucepan from the heat and glaze the birdseed, submerging each of them in the syrup and leaving to dry on a metal rack or on sulfurized paper.
4. When the syrup cools it becomes opaque and turns into a glaze. Then the canary seed is ready to consume.

Here you have a step by step in photos where I show you how to prepare this recipe for canary seed from Easter. Do not miss any detail so that they come out of you delicious.

Tips for some tasty Easter birdseed

• There are birdseed recipes that do not include aniseed grain, you can do without this ingredient if you do not have it or do not like it.
• To add a little extra flavor, you can also use orange zest.
• The point of the syrup is the most important thing in this recipe so we recommend that you measure the temperature with a kitchen thermometer.
• Turn off the fire when it shows 120º C and remove the scoop, the residual heat will make it rise a little more. If we go over 125º C the glaze will not come out and we will have to start again.