Coques amb bonys
The Christmas, New Year and Epiphany festivities are rich in sweet recipes of all kinds. The most characteristic and well-known are turrones (nougat), of which we now have a wide variety, but in addition to these, our traditional Christmas tables featured a wide range of products that sweetened the palates of our ancestors.
Among the typical recipes of those ancient festive celebrations, one of the most common was called Coques amb bonys. Its name derives from the bumps on the upper surface, resulting from the breaking of the outer layer of the dough before baking by means of a series of scissor cuts that caused the dough to rise. They were made from flour, sugar, oil, water and yeast, which were kneaded together and left to rise before baking. They sometimes contained aniseed, an ingredient that was often used in our oldest pastries. In fact, the first and oldest recipe we know of for a ‘Vizcocho de Mallorca’ includes these seeds among the ingredients.
The recipe and its context
The cocas that give this article its title are now a practically forgotten product and little known to most people. They bear witness to the evolution of our cuisine and pastries, as well as the neglect or ignorance with which both have treated the very rich and overlooked local tradition.
They were one of the typical Mallorcan recipes of the Christmas festivities of yesteryear. Their long history on our local tables suggests that one of the earliest references to them dates back to the mid-18th century. At that time, they were among the pastries made by the nuns of the of the Sant Geroni Convent in Palma.
Continuity of tradition
The continuity of their presence on our island is attested to by a codification of their recipe collected in the last third of the 19th century. It is part of an extremely limited recipe book, preceded by a brief informative introduction, published in instalments during 1880 in the periodical magazine called L’Ignorància. The list provided corresponds to the instructions for making rosquilles de Sineu, cuartos de Santa Clara, madritxos de Sant Geroni, doblegats de Santa Magdalena and coques amb bonys, with a view to celebrating the approaching Christmas festivities in style.
This first recipe for coques has been reproduced by Lluis Ripoll in his printed works on Mallorcan cuisine, published in 1974 and reprinted in 1978 and 1992. The other recipes featuring the formula in question are exclusively for pastries. Three of them are identified as coming from specific convents, namely the well-known Sant Geroni, Santa Magdalena and Santa Clara Convents in Palma. It is possible that the cocas we are discussing also came from these convents, as one of the references to them indicates that they came from the Convent of La Concepció in Palma. Perhaps the recipe for Rosquillas de Sineu also came from there.
Reproducing the recipe for these cakes, strictly following the instructions provided by the various sources of the original formula, has not yielded satisfactory results. The examples produced so far by the two bakers who have kindly offered their collaboration in reproducing them, Nadal Lladó, from Forn de Can Nadal de Campos, and Joan Segura, from Murer, have not yet achieved satisfactory results. The latter has pointed out that, in his opinion, the main difficulty lies in appearance and shape, as the preparation of the dough does not present any difficulty. The solid-liquid proportions are completely correct for the intended purpose. In fact, they provide a fine, firm dough which, as it contains a low amount of sugar, caramelises to a thicker and more consistent coating than traditional cocas. The latter tend to have a higher sugar content and brown more quickly. As a result, they are rawer and have a softer dough, making it more difficult to present bonys in their final appearance.
A traditional testimony
A significant testimony to the popularity achieved by these cakes is provided by a traditional account from 1901 about the Christmas festivities at the beginning of the last century. It is signed by Joan Rosselló de Son Fortesa, whose real name was Joan Rosselló i Crespí (Alaró, 1854 – Palma, 1935). It describes the preparations and provisions with which the great Mallorcan houses prepared to celebrate the Christmas festivities. At that time, the celebration required a family gathering around a traditional table, laden with exceptional dishes reserved for these specific dates.
The story shows how, at the beginning of the last century, these cocas continued to be a characteristic sweet of the festive season in question. This is how the story, penned by the Mallorcan writer and translator, author of a number of vivid descriptions of everyday rural life, shows us. His priceless appreciation for this peculiar way of life led him to portray it in frequent lectures throughout his life, many of which are collected in the volume entitled Ruralisme (1908). His outstanding work in this field has led him to be considered the initiator of this type of Mallorcan narrative. His first texts of this kind appeared in 1899 in La Roqueta, under the pseudonym Joan de Passatemps. He subsequently contributed to a long list of Mallorcan publications (La Almudaina, La Ciudad, Gaceta de Mallorca, Mallorca, Mitjorn) and Catalan publications (Catalunya, Ilustració Catalana, Joventut, El Poble Català and La Veu de Catalunya). He also translated works by foreign authors such as Daudet, Goethe, Ibsen, Lamartine, Maupassant, Mistral, Turgenev and Chekhov.
The story in question is entitled El betlem de Nadal (Christmas Bethlehem) and was included in the volume entitled Manyoc de fruita mallorquina, published in 1903. It was later included in the edition of his Obras Completes (Complete Works, 1992), where it can be found on pages 131-136. Coques amb bonys are mentioned in the description of the chapter on sweets, intended to supply a family table of a certain economic standing. In those years, it was essential to stock up on the sweets needed to celebrate the Christmas festivities. One of the most popular options was to go to a convent or a reputable sucrer (confectioner) or forner. In the old island capital, there were several female orders whose communities were renowned for their excellent baking, as well as a good number of prestigious bakeries and sucrers that more than satisfied these small and capricious needs.
Rosselló i Crespí recounts how his family would go to the Convent of La Concepción in Palma to buy coques llises and amb bonys ensucrades, in equal parts and in sufficient quantity to fill a covo. His account unfolds with these words:
I had to go, two or three times, to Casa de las Monjas de la Concepción for fear that the cakes I’d ordered wouldn’t be ready and because they wouldn’t let me take more than a dozen with holes; Look here inside this large, sealed cave; there must be about half a dozen plain ones and the rest are glazed and sugared. Do you smell that scent they give off, as if they’re embalming the larder?
The very large basket would wait, untouched, until Christmas Eve, which was and still is when the old festive gastronomic marathon began. Nowadays, the widespread availability of products and ease of access to them has led to a markedly different perspective, albeit with expectations that are not as hopeful, but more generous.
Coques amb bonys were one of the many treats that formed part of this tempting and sweet promise. Now they are an example of the valuable lost and forgotten heritage of our gastronomic past. We do not know if they were very good or not, although their sweetness must not have been very high. Even so, we can be sure that they were a main and prominent feature of our old and beloved Christmas celebrations, which took place every year without fail.
Note: The work used for the quote is: Joan Rosselló de Son Fortesa d’Alaró (1992) Obres completes, Edicions Cort, Palma de Mallorca.
Cover photo: coca made by Nadal Lladó, Forn Can Nadal de Campos.
Photos: cocas made by Joan Segura de Muro, baker and master pastry chef, now retired.
Photos Joan Rosselló de Son Fortesa: family collection García Rosselló.
Antoni Contreras Mas is a researcher and promoter of Mallorcan gastronomy.