Pastafloras were little pastries filled with angel hair (a sweet Spanish squash preserve). I say “were” because you can no longer find them in bakeries. I used to buy them when I lived in Almería, but that was a long time ago and I don’t know whether they still make them there. If you search for pastaflora online, you’re sent to pastafrola (recipe in Spanish), the famous Argentine tart.
I found this recipe in the book “Cocina regional”, under the name “tortas de pastaflora”, in the section on Córdoba. As with every recipe in that book, the quantities are enormous, so I have divided them by four.
The pastafloras I remember were quite large and had whole almonds on top.
Ingredients for 20 small pastafloras
Pastry
- 90 g sugar
- 125 g lard
- 250 g plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 small glass of aguardiente (Spanish grape spirit)
- Grated lemon zest
Beat the sugar with the softened lard, add the egg and the lemon zest, and keep beating until smooth.
Sift the flour with the baking powder into the bowl of a stand mixer, make a well in the centre and add all the other ingredients. Knead until the dough comes together into a ball, flatten it into a disc, wrap in cling film and leave somewhere cool. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll one out to half a centimetre thick.
Filling
- Angel hair
Mark circles with a cutter and put a teaspoon of angel hair on each one, as in the photo.
Roll out the other half of the dough and cut out circles with a round fluted cutter. Brush the pastry with a little water, cover the filling and press to seal the edges. Decorate by making a small hole in each scallop with a skewer.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
