Spain's Holy Week dessert: thick slices of day-old bread soaked in sweetened cinnamon milk (or wine), dipped in egg, fried in olive oil, and dusted with cinnamon sugar or drizzled with honey. Crisp outside, custardy within.
A traditional Spanish Easter (Semana Santa) sweet said to date to the 15th century.
A crackly, caramelized cinnamon-sugar crust gives way to a warm, custard-soft center heavy with milk and sweet spice. Somewhere between French toast and bread pudding, but richer. Best slightly warm with a coffee.
Stale bread absorbs the sweet milk without disintegrating, while the egg coating sets in hot oil to form a sealed, crisp shell that keeps the inside moist. Frying caramelizes the surface sugars.
Variations
torrijas de vino (soaked in wine); soaked in honey syrup after frying; with custard or ice cream
On the Palate
Where Torrijas sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 18 min
Warm milk with sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a strip of lemon peel, then let it cool slightly.
- 24 min
Cut day-old bread into thick slices and lay them in a dish.
- 330 min
Pour the infused milk over the bread and let it soak until saturated but not falling apart.
Watch outSoak just until the milk reaches the center and the slice is heavy but still holds its shape — a mushy slice falls apart in the oil.
- 42 min
Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl.
- 53 min
Lift each slice, dip it in beaten egg to coat.
Watch outCoat the slice all over in egg right before it goes in — that even film is what seals the milk inside and crisps up.
- 68 min
Fry in hot olive oil until golden and crisp on both sides.
Watch outOil should shimmer and bubble briskly around the bread; too cool and it soaks up grease, too hot and the egg scorches before the middle warms.
- 73 min
Drain on paper, then dredge in cinnamon sugar or drizzle with warm honey.
- 82 min
Serve warm or at room temperature.
