← Sweets
Turrón and marzipan · traditional

Deditos de Jesús

The almond sweet that was born in a novel and ended up in Almería's repertoire

Turrón and marzipan Coast

Small finger-shaped sweets of almond, sugar and egg, from the capital. The name was invented by a 1983 novel; the attribution to the Las Puras convent came later and is doubtful.

Deditos de Jesús
Deditos de Jesús

Where it comes from

Almería city

Few sweets have so novelistic a biography, and here it is literal. The deditos de Jesús are small finger-shaped pieces of almond, sugar and egg, counted among the province's desserts; their origin is popularly attributed to the Las Puras convent, but the name was born in a novel.

The story, in order: the name was invented by Fernando Quiñones in "La canción del pirata" (1983); a 1986 competition recovered — or reinvented — the recipe, the work of Antonio Verdejo, published in "Vivir para comer en Almería" (1991); the convent attribution arrived in 1996, and it is doubtful. A sweet that was a word first and a dough later.

Today it lives more on the page than on the counter: no confitería sells it regularly. Whoever wants to taste it will have to knead it: the almond, sugar and egg paste, shaped into small fingers, baked gently until dry but not toasted.

What it is made with

Underlined ingredients link to Local produce.

How it is made at home

  1. Grind the almonds finely.
  2. Mix them with the sugar and egg into a paste.
  3. Shape the paste into small fingers.
  4. Bake at low heat until dry but not browned.