Wiccan Kitchen🥣🌿

Any recipe can become magic if you wish it so. In our own kitchens, we find countless ingredients that not only provide specific nutritional benefits but also hold symbolism that transforms any dish into a dose of magic and protection.

Today I'm bringing you a recipe you can make any time of year. Although it's well known in France as "French toast," here in southern Spain—where I'm from and where I'm lucky enough to still live—we call them "Torrijas."

Torrijas are traditionally made with the arrival of spring, during the Christian Lenten season. For me, making this recipe is a true ritual; it means Ostara is knocking at our door, that the sun is winning its battle against darkness, and that the days and their light will begin to lengthen.

Today I want to share it with you. Make it any time of year, but especially in spring, with intention and savoring all the magic held within its ingredients.

Ingredients for 6 torrijas:

• Slices of thick-crumb bread—slightly stale is better, or you can use brioche. The bread slices don't need to be overly large

• 3 eggs

• 1 liter of milk. Milk connects us with childhood, comfort, and innocence.

• 3 tablespoons of sugar. This brings us prosperity, harmony, and good fortune.

• 3 cinnamon sticks. Cinnamon brings us healing, love, desire, success, purification, protection, money, abundance, and psychic awareness.

• Ground cinnamon to taste

• 4-5 pieces of freshly harvested lemon peel (don't forget to thank the tree for its fruit once you've gathered it—offer it water or simply give thanks). If you can't harvest it yourself, store-bought will work just as well. Lemon offers a powerful dose of purification, love, protection, and happiness.

• 1-2 pieces of freshly harvested orange peel—if not, store-bought works too. Like lemon, orange offers purification, love, and prosperity.

You'll also need a frying pan and olive oil.

Now for the recipe, where the real magic begins

First and foremost, and always before performing any kitchen ritual, it's important to keep your workspace clean and organized, connect with the purpose of what you're cooking, and feel like true green witches.

To organize the recipe preparation a bit—it's not difficult but has certain steps (like any other ritual, haha)—on one plate we'll put the 3 beaten eggs, and on another plate we'll mix some sugar to taste with 2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon, and set them aside for later.

Now, let's begin!

1. In a pot, add the liter of milk, cinnamon sticks, sugar, and lemon and orange zest.

Place it over medium-high heat and begin stirring our mixture clockwise for a few minutes. After this, let it steep for at least an hour, always making sure it doesn't boil over, and stirring occasionally. After an hour, remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.

This is a moment of true meditation with ourselves and our recipe. As the milk heats and infuses with the other ingredients, we'll think about abundance, protection, the arrival of a new season, the beginning of the year according to the Sabbats, and the purpose of our recipe.

2. Once the milk has cooled or is nearly cold, in a baking dish or tray with some depth, place the bread slices and pour our mixture (strained) over the bread gradually—don't pour the entire liter at once; give the bread time to absorb all the milk.

3. When the bread has absorbed the milk and is nice and soaked, pass each slice through the previously beaten egg and place it in the pan with about a finger's depth of very hot oil. Be careful not to burn yourself.

4. At this point, you'll see the bread slowly begin to toast and puff up a bit. Once you see it golden, remove it from the pan and immediately coat it in the plate containing the sugar and cinnamon, making sure it's well covered.

5. Once the bread is coated in sugar and cinnamon, remove it and place it on another tray or separate plate, and it's ready to enjoy.

The little ones in the house love it with vanilla ice cream. I sometimes garnish them with a few mint leaves (which they say brings good luck to travelers).

Let me know if you liked the recipe, if you were familiar with it, or if you know other variations. Here in Andalusia, they also make them with honey and wine, but we prefer them this way.

Thanks for reading!🤍