Spanish Christmas Cookies: Polvorones & Yema Nevada

These were Spanish Christmas cookies: Polvorones and Yama Nevada.

We have been enjoying holiday treats such as stollen, lebkuchen, and baumkuhen. I made Linzer Torte for Christmas 2015. Is that just a coincidence that these all are German traditions? During Christmas 2016, in addition to our favorite stollen, we welcomed other European traditions. One was my homemade British-style Christmas pudding. The other was Spanish cookies I bought online. Yes, Spanish sweets! I happened to come across authentic Spanish foods that I had never seriously thought about during my premium marmalade search. Luckily I found these Spanish cookies that were said authentic and traditional holiday treats.

Polvorones cookies, wrapped like candies, were very delicate and light, I could say sandy, melt-in-mouth literally. They had a hint of pleasant festive flavors from cinnamon, anise, clove, and lemon peel. Almond and extra virgin olive oil were ingredients that express the cookies' origin. On the other hand, Yema Nevada cookies had a special ingredient that immediately attracted me: sweet potatoes. These cookies were described as a combination of "the ancient Spanish tradition of almond cookies with sweet potato and cocoa butter, discoveries from the new world." They were rich, creamy, and very almond-y.

Both were made by Aromas de Medina, a family-owned company located in Medina Sidonia, an ancient city of Spain. They make traditional holiday cookies by hand, following their multi-generation family recipes. These cookies weren't too sweet, which I appreciate very much. J enjoyed our new Spanish cookie discovery, too. I am very sure these Spanish cookies will knock on our door next Christmas. Perhaps they will come with other new Spanish treats that we haven't tried yet. Maybe?