Easter Monas
La Mona Easter It is a typical recipe of the eastern and easter days in many Spanish regions, such as the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Murcia, Aragon or the Balearic Islands. In addition, depending on the area it is known by different names, such as panquemado, panquemao or toña in Valencia, and it is usually tradition that the godfather gives the monkey to his godson on Easter Sunday and that several families get together on Easter Monday to eat the monkey in the field.
This recipe from the Mona Easter, so typical of these days, along with others such as French Toast (Torrijas)It also has innumerable variations, the most traditional being the dough made with flour, sugar, eggs and salt. However, in Catalonia it has evolved and they are usually covered in chocolate, and with increasingly spectacular shapes, becoming authentic chocolate sculptures with the most varied shapes, from footballers to children's characters and the bakeries of each city compete for do the Mona more spectacular.
So, how we like to publicize the gastronomic traditions from all corners of Spain and the world, we have dared to make some Easter Monas following the Valencian tradition, although with some variations. In any case, the result has been spectacular and a lot of fun, a perfect bread for a breakfast o picnic as a family, and that can be enjoyed both on Easter and the rest of the year. Delicious!
Degree of Difficulty: medium
Prep Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients for 6 monas
- 500 gr. Of flour
- 1 sachet of dry yeast (25 gr.)
- 1/4 liter of warm milk
- 100 gr. melted butter
- 80 gr. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
To "paint" the dough
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon of milk
For decoration
- Colored anisette, chocolate balls, raisins, cherries to decorate, sliced almonds ...
- Boiled eggs painted with food coloring or chocolate eggs.
Elaboration:
We put the flour in a bowl. Add the dry yeast and mix everything well with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients: the butter (previously we have melted it in the microwave), the milk, the sugar, the egg and a pinch of salt. We beat everything well with the mixer and we give the dough a round shape with our hands, leaving a dough as in the image.
We cover the bowl with a cloth and put it in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at a maximum temperature of 50 degrees, leaving the oven door ajar with a wooden spoon, until we see that the dough has risen, that is, You have visibly increased your volume. We can also heat it in the microwave by covering the bowl with a damp cloth at 80-90 watts for about 8 minutes.
While the dough grows, we cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Once the dough has risen, we divide it into 4 or 5 parts depending on the amount of "monas" you want to make and the size. Here we have to let our imagination fly to shape the dough with the figures we want. In our case with the dough we have prepared 4 different figures: a rabbit, a turtle, a nest and a braid, but you can make whatever you think of, decorating with colored balls, painted boiled eggs, sliced almonds, sugar ... the moment of imagination! You can let your children help you and you will have a great time.
We put them in the oven for another 10 minutes at a maximum of 50 degrees, so that the dough continues to grow. Once we have our figures ready, we mix an egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk and paint the monkeys with this mixture, so that they brown in the oven. We add the decoration that we can think of to finish our figures, for example, we use raisins for the eyes, a cherry for the nose, colored balls, chocolate balls and rolled almonds to decorate.
With our figures already ready and decorated, we put them in the preheated oven at 200º for about 25-30 minutes, until we see that they are ready and that they have taken on a suitable color.
We take them out of the oven, let them cool, we put the painted or chocolate eggs as decoration and we have our Easter monkeys ready to eat. What have been "cute"?
To eat them, we can spread them with butter, jam, a little cheese ... Accompanied by a hot chocolate, we have a great breakfast or snack for Easter, or for any occasion. Are you up for it?
More information about the recipe
Preparation time
Cooking time
Total time
Kilocalories per serving 330
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