Nestled in the lush green mountains in the Basque region of Spain is a little town called Eibar. Here the church bells of San Andres ring on the hour and every 15min, all the bars make little pintxos(tapas), and they celebrate a day on the 3rd of Feb. called San Blas. The origins of this day are from a story of a little boy who choked on a fish bone and Senor Blas came along and saved him thus, he was Sainted. Viola-San Blas!
The best part of this day is that you get to eat pastries that have(or have not) been blessed and this will give give you good health of the throat. My family that is from here and I proceeded in a haze of flour and a dusting of sugar to make ten of these such pastries. An aquired taste for some, the main flavor is Anise(licorice taste) and I LOVE IT! I swear these become a quick addiction. I could eat a whole one in a day and they are the size of a plate. And this from a girl who doesn't like sweets.
Here follows the recipe for one San Blas, though, you should tripple it at least because if you don't eat it all, they are wonderful gifts for neighbors who have sore throats. Don't forget the Holy water.
San Blas
(feb. 3rd)
For the pastry:
1 egg
175 g. flour(sorry for the conversions my dears in America!)
75 g. sugar
40g. butter
1 tsp. baking soda
3-4 drops essence of anise
mix all this up real good, kneading it with your hands and flouring your work surface until you get a nicely formed dough. Imagine you are making bread dough, or pizza dough, it's basically that same thing. Roll into a ball and then flaten into an oval with a rolling pin. Pinch the sides to form a decorative border and then put in an oven preheated to about 350deg. Bake until golden brown, approx. 20 min.
For the icing:
50g. powdered sugar
1 egg white
mix the two quickly and very well until you have a smooth white glaze. Once the San Blas comes out of the oven, put a thin coating of icing on top, you don't have to use it all. Move the pastry to a rack to cool, start a pot of coffee, and sit back and relax in your anise scented house.
