Flaons (Catalan pronunciation: [fɫəˈons], singular flaó) are a type of pastry made in different locations of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula, like Morella, Ibiza, Formentera, Minorca and Olot, Spain. Traditionally flaons were part of Easter family celebrations in Minorca, but now they are available all-year-round.
The flaons have different shapes, semicircular or circular, and fillings usually based on some type of cheese, varying according to the location. Sweet flaons are usually sweetened with sugar, but traditionally honey was used more often. Historically the first recorded mention of these cakes is from 1252 and they are mentioned as well in Ramon Llull's book Blanquerna, written in 1283. There is a similar pastry in Cyprus known as flaounes.[1]
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In the Alt Maestrat and Ports areas the cake has a semicircular shape and it is filled with a mixture of local cottage cheese (brull) and ground almonds flavored with aiguardent and mistela.[2] The flaons of Morella are the gastronomic icon of the ancient city. An average-sized Morella flaó is about 12 cm long.
The flaó d'Eivissa has a circular shape and has a filling of sheep or goat cottage cheese, eggs and sugar, slightly aromatized with peppermint leaves and aniseed.[3] Flaons are usually eaten along with a glass of sweet wine or a local Liqueur, frígola a thyme-based digestive beverage.[4]
The flaó de Menorca is a pastry made with tender Maó cheese, wheat flour, olive oil and yeast. Often they include egg and a little lard in the recipe. Good Minorca flaons have to be very puffy in the middle. There are salty and sweet versions of this pastry in Menorca. Some of them have a filling, while in others all the ingredients are mixed together.[5]
The flaonets de Calaceit (Catalan: flaonets = little flaons) are made in Calaceit, a town of La Franja region of Aragon. They are a different kind of pastry despite their name, for instead of cheese these small pastries have a filling based on pumpkin jam and honey.[6] These flaonets were one of the traditional Spanish pastries fondly remembered by painter Salvador Dalí.[7]