Maiden Day Sweets
Bia and Crezanna slept blissfully until their youngest roommate burst into the room. "It's sweets' day. It's sweets' day. We're gonna make swee-eets." Maeve sang loudly and off-key as she pranced around the room.
Moaning at the early hour, Crezanna lobbed a pillow at the noisy girl. "Shut up, you demented monkey." As she dodged, Maeve made a rude noise,
On the other side of the room, Bia groggily sat up. "Sweets' day?"
"Yup. Yup. Yup." Maeve bounced, tossing the pillow back at its owner. "Today's the day we make the custard tarts, sugar leaves, and flower biscuits er cookies. If we help, Auntie Ennelynn will let us lick the bowls and taste test things."
"By help, she means wash dishes," Crezanna grumbled, "Lots and lots of dishes."
"It's not that many." Maeve protested. "Besides, Auntie Ennelynn is nice and works all by herself. We should be nice too!"
More of a morning person her other roommate, Bia started getting dressed. "We might as well get up. She won't stop. Besides, it will be a change of pace from needlework." She turned to the bouncing youngster. "You did say we get to eat some, yes?"
What goes better together than young women and sweets? Since ages past, when the first sliver of the Queen's Moon is sighted, people have baked delicacies to celebrate. Young noble women coming to live at the cannon houses brought their holiday recipes with them. The Queen's Return Day deserts used to be sweetened with honey or reduced fruit juice. However, since trade with Ekamelo was established, sugar has become the sweeter of choice for those who can afford it. Today, cannon houses bake hundreds of delicate sugar laden pastries, not only enjoy themselves but share with the less fortunate for the holiday.
At the Aasimon Shatiyatu Cannon House, the favorite holiday treat is violet and elderflower custard tarts. The institution also bakes puff pastry spring leaves covered in cinnamon sugar. Recently, they started producing a Fennish cookie called fairy flower biscuits.
Manufacturing process
The custard tarts for the Queen's Return start with a crust made of hazelnuts ground to crumbs and butter pressed into pie tins. Cream is steeped with eatable blossoms. The most common are violets or elderflowers in the Sweibruken Region. In other parts of the East, Lavender, cherry blossom or rosewater might be substituted. The cream is turned into a custard with the inclusion of sugar and egg yokes. Finally, the tarts are baked to set the custard. Sugar may be sprinkled on top and melted just before serving as a special treat.
One of the most time-consuming pastries are sugar leaves. To start with, one creates a dough of flour, water, a pinch of salt and butter. This dough must be chilled. Once it is very stiff, the baker rolls it out and covers the pastry with dots of hard butter. The dough is folded to encase the fat layer. Then, it is chilled to stiffen it. This process is repeated over and over again until dozens of thin layers are formed. Carefully, the dough is cut into leaves such that those thin layers are across the shape. The last step is to sprinkle each leaf with cinnamon sugar and bake.
Flower biscuits come from the Fens, who call their cookies biscuits for reasons no one understands. As a simple short dough, it contains butter, flour, sugar, and starch. Traditionally, this is flavored with anise and a little rosewater. The dough is rolled out and cut into flower shapes. Using a wash of egg yolk, the cookies are decorated with colored sugars, nuts, raisins, and other dried fruits. Then, the fanciful creations are baked to golden brown.
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