Irresistible Yemas de Santa Teresa Recipe - Visit Southern Spain (2024)

Maybe the first things that come to your mind when you hear “egg yolk desserts” are the classic flans or baked goods such as cookies and cakes.

However, you should know by now that here in Spain we like to do things a little bit differently, so we have our very own Yemas de Santa Teresa.

This Spanish dessert is groundbreaking, just keep reading to find out why and how to make yema balls at home.

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Background of the Dish

Of course, we all know that Southern Spain is the home for the best Spanish dessert recipes, or that you can find wonderful recipes such as the fantastic Spanish custard dessert recipe or the famous churros.

Despite that, the Yemas de Santa Teresa has a big difference from those recipes: they are a dessert where you eat the yolks cooked with sugar.

As much as some people associate this recipe with a bakery in the Province of Ávila, some records confirm that it was created centuries before in the South of Spain when it was still considered Al-Andalus territory.

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Things You’ll Need for Yemas de Santa Teresa

To prepare this egg yolk dessert you only need egg yolks, granulated white sugar, powdered sugar, lemon peel, and water.

If you feel like trying more eggy Spanish recipes, you should check the Natillas De Leche Recipe or Crema Catalana Recipe.

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Ingredients

• 8 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (100gr) white granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (80ml) water
• 3/4 cup (80gr) powdered sugar
• Peel of one lemon (without the white part)

How to Make Yemas de Santa Teresa – Step by Step Guide

1. The first thing you need to do for this yema recipe is to prepare the syrup. Just put the water, lemon peel, and the white granulated sugar in a steel saucepan and take it to the al stove at medium heat.

2. Then, once the syrup gets to the thread stage (once it reaches 105°C or 220°F) you can remove it from the heat. At this point take the lemon peel out of the syrup.

3. In the meantime, separate the yolks from the whites. Save the whites for another recipe, and put the yolks in a saucepan.

4. After that, lightly beat the yolks and add the syrup little by little. A regular whisk is perfect for this task.

5. Now, put the saucepan over low heat, and cook, slowly and stirring (better if it is with a wooden spoon) until it begins to curdle.

6. Pour the yema de huevo preparation on a cold and flat surface, spreading it slightly. A deep baking tray will do the trick.

7. Then, let it cool and sprinkle it with plenty of powdered sugar.

8. Grab a little bit of the yemas with sugar and shape them (approximately the size of a walnut each) forming small balls. Then coat them with the rest of the powdered sugar.

9. For the final step, serve the Yemas de Santa Teresa in small cupcake liners, or just on a plate.

Substitution of Ingredients

There are not many changes you can make to the ingredients of the sugared egg yolks, since they are few but key to making the recipe go well.

You can change the flavoring ingredients of the Spanish candies. In this case, it is the lemon peel, but you can use the lime peel, orange peel, or even 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.

You can also skip the Yemas de Santa Teresa flavoring, although keep in mind that it comes in handy to cut with the sweetness that all the sugar gives to the recipe.

You can even make this yema dessert with brown sugar for a less sweet taste. You can also cut them into bars if you don’t want to shape them into balls.

Try as well the Spanish pan de leche recipe, which is a soft and sweet bread bun filled with creamy custard.

Tips on Serving Yemas de Santa Teresa

We know dessert with egg yolks may sound weird, but that’s what these yolk balls are.

You can serve these Yemas de Santa Teresa for dessert, calculating 2 or 3 per person, with a small cup of coffee.

You can also serve them as Spanish sweets and give one per person at any time of the day.

They are the perfect sweet snack since, unlike other dessert recipes with eggs, you can eat these in one bite.

A coffee, tea, or any drink with a more bitter profile is perfect to drink with these sweet yolk balls.

Desserts that are similar to yemas de Santa Teresa are the well-known Turron de Alicante, Turron de Jijona, and the delicious Spanish chocolate turron you must try them if you haven’t so far.

How to Store Yemas de Santa Teresa

Dessert recipes with egg yolks do not usually keep for long as the yolk can go bad quickly.

The Yemas de Santa Teresa are no exception to this rule, you can only store them in the fridge for up to 48 hours after making them.

The only desserts with egg yolks that you can keep stored for a long time are those where cooking is done with baking, such as cookies or cakes.

Recipe Card: Yemas de Santa Teresa