the rosco de reyes

There it is, folks. The pride and joy of the Spanish/Basque holiday pastry tradition.

I'm going to try not to be harsh about this one...but the only way to get me more worked up by bragging about pastry is to brag about a pastry that is really just a hamburger bun in disguise.

I said it.

Above is the rosco de reyes, in its simplest incarnation. It's the dessert of choice during the holiday season, which comes to head on January 6, the day of the Epiphany. Often you see the rosco filled with cream or custard, and you hear a LOT of people talk about how delicious it is.

Unfortunately, I have a tradition of my own working against my best pastry-eating intentions: the King Cake. Eating a King Cake and then trying to enjoy a rosco is like using an iPad before going back to a typewriter. The rosco is definitely the king cake's predecessor, as evinced by the Spanish/French presence in the territory of Louisiana. However, we have sweetened it up, filled it with fat (of all kinds, nonetheless) and made it thoroughly and uniquely our own. 

So the simple rosco de reyes enjoyed here strikes me as just...well, a bit quaint. A hamburger bun, dusted generously with granulated sugar.

I beg pardon to all those who I have offended. May I offer you a slice of king cake?