Santas From Around The World: Andorra (Advent 2020, Day 2)

I am big fan of random generators. They are great for sparking creativity. Two days into this advent and I was struggling to come up with a nation to pick. Not because I am out of ideas already. But because there’s a lot of great Santas from around the world to focus on. But it’s too far away from Day 25 to post them just yet.

So here comes a random country generator to the rescue! 

The completely random nation selected for me was Andorra. It was so random, I literally asked ‘Where the frick is Andorra?’ My second question was do they even have a Santa? Thankfully, they do!

Andorra is a small principality located in the Pyrenees Mountain border between Spain and France. With it’s ideal locale for winter sports and duty free shopping, Andorra’s largest industry is tourism. And that’s where Santa Claus comes in. 

Thanks to Caldea.com, I learned that the arrival of Santa is a fairly new tradition for the children of Andorra. But it’s also become a large tourist draw just before Christmas. Every December 23rd, Santa arrives in the Caldean town square. While Santa flies in with his eight tiny reindeer, including Rudolph, and his elves, St. Nick makes a big entrance by repelling down Caldea’s most iconic building, the glass shard looking Tower- which is over 80 meters in height!

Once Santa makes it safely down the building, the children, full on a feast of juices, hot chocolate and tea cakes, get a final chance to present Santa with their wish lists. After a quick but lengthy round of photos with the kiddies, Santa heads back to the North Pole as the sun sets and Caldea’s holiday lights rise. But the kids aren’t too sad, because they know Santa will return soon with their holiday presents!

If you are thinking that Andorra doesn’t have cookies. Well, you’d be wrong. For today’s advent recipe present, I am gifting you with a delight called a Panellet. Made with potatoes, almonds and pine nuts, this is definitely an adventuresome cookie. But from a Madman chef like myself, I think these might be delicious.

 Panellet koekje from Andorra

For about 20 cookies

75 grams (2¾ oz) potatoes
200 grams (1¾ cups) ground almonds
275 grams (1¾ cups) sugar
zest of ½ lemon
75 grams (½ cup) pine nuts
1 egg
50 grams (½ cup) corn starch

Steps:

1. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and boil about 20 min. in a pan with a little water until done. Drain and allow to cool slightly.

2. Mash the potatoes and let cool completely. Mix in the almond flour.

3. Stir in the sugar and the lemon zest.

4. Preheat the oven to 220° C / 425°F.  Form balls of about 25 grams and shape them into crescents. Sprinkle with a little cornstarch and brush with egg yolk. Scatter pine nuts over the cookies.

5. Put the crescents on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in the middle of the oven for ± 12 min. until light brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet.