Desserts

On the way to Sintra

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Sintra, the summer retreat of the Portuguese monarchy, is a fairy-tale village with its enchanting palaces, lush gardens, and Moorish castle. But beauty is only part of its appeal. Sintra has long been a destination for travelers with a sweet tooth.

There are the famous queijadas, cheese tartlets whose history stretches back to the Middle Ages, and Travesseiros, the sweet “pillows” created by Piriquita. And then there are the Fofos de Belas, made just a few kilometers away in the small village of Belas.

Casa dos Fofos de Belas traces its origins to 1840, when it produced pão de ló and other sweets to sell at fairs and religious festivals around Sintra. In 1850, the house began to specialize in the little cakes that became known as Fofos de Belas.

Fofos are small cylinders of pão de ló, a wonderfully light Portuguese sponge cake made with eggs, sugar, and flour. Their lightness inspired the name fofos, the Portuguese word for “fluffy.” They are baked in a wood-fired oven heated with eucalyptus wood, then sliced open and filled with a rich pastry cream made from eggs, sugar, and starch.

Airy, creamy, and faintly perfumed by the wood-fired oven, they are dangerously easy to eat. They go beautifully with coffee or tea, are perfect for celebrations, and may even help soothe a heartache. No wonder Belas became a popular stop on the way to Sintra.

Casa dos Fofos de Belas is located at Rua Dr. Malheiros 18, 2605-038 Belas. Click here for their website.

Bolo Bolacha

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Bolo de bolacha

Plato thought that the circle was a symbol of the divine. Alberti, an Italian architect, considered it the perfect shape. But no one was more obsessed with the circle than Guarino Guarini, a brilliant Baroque architect. His buildings are made of concave and convex spaces delineated by circles. One of his most important works, the church of Santa Maria da Divina Providência in Lisbon, was famous for its undulating facade. Sadly, the church was destroyed by the 1755 earthquake.

By happenstance, the circular shapes included in Guarini’s treatise, Architettura Civile, resurfaced in Portugal in the 20th century in the design of the popular bolo bolacha (biscuit cake). This cake is made with the circular Maria biscuits invented in 1874 by an English baker to celebrate the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh with the Russian Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. To make the cake, the biscuits are dipped in strong coffee, layered with buttercream and then assembled according to designs that would make Guarini proud.

If you see bolo bolacha on a restaurant menu, give it a try. Like the circle, it is simple, but divine.

A monarchic cake

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Dona Amélia

In 1901, the Portuguese royal family traveled to the islands of Madeira and Azores. The visit was a great honor for the local populations, but presented them with a difficult problem: how do you choose a gift for monarchs who have everything?

The Azores, Terceira Island, offered Queen Dona Amélia a new cake made with local ingredients: corn flour, raisins, sugar cane molasses, and cinnamon. The queen enjoyed it so much that the new creation became known as the Dona Amélia cake.

More than a century later, the cake continues to be popular in the Terceira island and for a good reason. We loved the Donas Amélias we tried at O Forno, a great pastry store in downtown Angra do Heroism.

The ability of royalty to inspire the delicious Donas Amélias makes us wonder whether we should restore the monarchy.

O Forno is located on Rua São João in Angra do Heroismo, Terceira, Azores, tel. 295 213 729.

Memorable pastries from Vila Real

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Crista de GaloMore than a century ago, a baker from Vila Real was given four secret recipes from the local Santa Clara convent. The pastries she made with these recipes were so extraordinary that she decided to turn her bakery into a pastry store.

Today, her great grandchildren continue to use the same prized recipes at Casa Lapão, a pastry store in Vila Real. Their most popular pastry is called “Crista de Galo,” which means rooster comb.  We recommend that you try them with your eyes closed so you can better appreciate the heavenly combination of the flaky dough with the egg and almond filling.

If you’re near Vila Real, a stop at Casa Lapão can turn an ordinary day into a memorable one.

Casa Lapão is located at Rua da Misericórdia 53/55, Vila Real, tel 259 324 146, email casalapao@gmail.com. Click here for their website. 

The sweet alchemy of Tecolameco

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Tecolomeco

At the end of a wonderful meal at Flor de Rosa, a great historical hotel in Crato, Alentejo, the maître d’ brought us two slices of a dessert called Tecolameco. In our quest to eat fewer sweets, we decided to have only a small bite to be polite. But once we tasted this marvelous dessert, our will power vanished.

Tecolameco is made of sugar, eggs, almond, pork lard, butter, and cinnamon. There are many other Portuguese desserts made with these ingredients, but none tastes like Tecolameco.

It is said that an old chef found in the Crato castle an ancient book that revealed the meaning of life. All the pages were blank, except for the one with the recipe for Tecolameco.

Click here for the Pousadas’ website and here for more photos of Flor da Rosa.