Inés Rosales style oil cakes

For 10 € 0.09 /pers. 152 kcal/100g

How to make oil cakes, an Andalusian recipe that you can prepare at home and enjoy with your family.

Oil cakes are one of the most traditional and popular sweet preparations of Andalusian gastronomy that we can find in Spain, along with pestiños , honey flakes or borachuelos . Known from north to south and from east to west of the country, there is no grocery store or supermarket where they are not sold. And in Andalusia, of course, they are present in almost all pastry shops.

There is little certainty about its origin. According to popular knowledge, pastry studies point to Arabic, Jewish or Mozarabic recipes from the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula.

He also says that oil cakes are typical of Castilleja de la Cuesta, a town in Seville where they have been made since the 19th century. The pioneers in their manufacture were Inés Rosales and Concepción Cansino, who carried them in baskets to sell them in Castilleja and Seville. Later, workshops dedicated to its production were born.

The oil cakes from Castilleja de la Cuesta, Seville, are protected by the Guaranteed Traditional Specialty designation of the European Union, along with three other Spanish products: serrano ham, farm milk and panellets.

Despite how easy it is to put them in the shopping basket, preparing Inés Rosales-style oil cakes is very simple. The ingredients required are basic and easy to find, so there is no excuse not to start preparing them right now.

In an hour and a half, most of the time for the dough to rest, your ovens will produce fine, crispy and aromatic cakes, with which to accompany breakfast, a snack or simply satisfy the hunger bug mid-morning. without filling us.

Preparation of the oil cake base

1. In a frying pan we heat the extra virgin olive oil together with the anise grains. As soon as it starts to sizzle, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.
2. We mix the dry ingredients in a deep and wide container, that is, the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, salt, dry baker’s yeast and sesame seeds. We mix well.
3. We make a well in the center and add the oil with the anise (cold), the water and the anise liquor. We mix again until homogenized. We start with a wooden spoon and, when we can’t take it anymore due to the thickness it acquires, then with our hands. It is not necessary to remove the dough from the container.
4. Once the dough is well kneaded, we cover the container with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for an hour or until it increases to double its volume.
5. After this time we knead again to degas the dough and divide it into 12 or 14 balls. So that they come out equal, we recommend weighing the total dough and dividing it into the number of cakes you want to make. The result is the weight that each ball will need to have.

Baking and final presentation of the oil cakes

1. We cover a couple of baking trays with parchment paper (baking paper).
2. We roll the portions of dough into balls and flatten them with the palm of our hand on the work surface, forming a disk. With a roller we stretch well, as thin as possible, trying to maintain a well-rounded shape.
3. We place the cakes on the baking trays, leaving a little separation between them. Sprinkle sugar over the entire surface of the cakes and bake in the oven, previously preheated to 220ºC with heat up and down, for about 6-7 minutes or until they begin to take color.
4. We remove the trays from the oven and let the cakes cool on them before removing and consuming.

Here you have a step by step in photos where I show how to prepare this Inés Rosales style oil cakes . Don’t miss any details so that they turn out perfect.

Tips for delicious Inés Rosales-style oil cakes

• It is important that we use a good extra virgin olive oil, as it is the main ingredient in these cakes and the difference is very noticeable in the result.
• We can bake both trays at the same time and thus save cooking time and electricity. In this case, it is advisable that we change their location halfway through cooking so that they cook evenly.
• For lovers of citrus fruits, we can add a piece of lemon and/or orange peel to the extra virgin olive oil and anise grain and obtain more aromatic oil cakes.
• So that the sugar on the surface of the cakes sticks well, we gently flatten it with the palm of our hand after sprinkling or we brush the cakes with a little oil and sprinkle the sugar afterwards.
• The oil cakes last in good condition for several days if we store them in an airtight container, preferably metal.