Neules are long, crunchy, rolled sweet treats. They are made of a thin sheet of pastry made of flour, sugar, and egg white, and rolled into a tube. They are made by cylindrical machines; if they are made by had they tend to be more conical. There are different variants: they can be covered in chocolate, stuffed with the nougat-like torró, and so on.

Although neules are traditionally eaten at Christmastime, usually served with torró and a glass of cava, they can be found all year long accompanying ice cream, sorbets and crema catalana.

This is a very ancient element of Catalan Christmas culinary fare, which is demonstrated by a mention in writings from 1267, on the Christmas feat given by the king Jaume I that year. There are countless records of them from the Middle Ages and they continue to be a recurring sweet theme in the oral Christmas tradition.

Method

Ingredients: 180 g of flour, 180 g of sugar, 180 g of butter, 240 g of egg white, lemon zest, water.

Stir the flour, butter, sugar and egg white together with the lemon zest until you have a uniform mix; If the mixture is too stiff, add a little water.
Leave it to rest.
Make circles of the mixture on greaseproof paper and cook them in the oven at 170 ˚C until golden.
Take them out and quickly roll them around a cylindrical object.