Pasta cake. Portuguese custard tarts Portuguese creamy egg tart recipe

Extraordinarily delicious cakes made from crispy puff pastry with the most delicate custard, fragrant with the aromas of cinnamon and lemon zest. This dessert comes from Portugal, which I have never visited, but it would definitely be worth flying there for such a delicacy. It’s clear that it’s impossible to get a signature recipe for Pastaise cake, but why not try making it at home!

They say that authentic Pasteis are made exclusively in Portugal in a place called Belém. There is a cafe there, whose signature recipe for cakes has been kept secret since 1837 and is known only to 3 people: the pastry chef and 2 owners of the establishment. As before, these delicious and fragrant cakes are made by hand, and anyone can watch the process of making the dessert with their own eyes.

Pasteis cakes are beloved not only by the Portuguese - they are also adored in other countries of the world. Despite the lack of an original recipe, if you have the desire and the necessary products, you can easily prepare them yourself at home. This is what I suggest you do today, because the result is worth it!

Ingredients:

(450 grams) (300 milliliters) (200 grams) (130 milliliters) (4 pieces ) (35 grams) (1 stick) (1 tablespoon )

Cooking the dish step by step with photos:

To prepare these delicious cakes, we need puff pastry without yeast, milk (of any fat content), granulated sugar, water, egg yolks, any kind of wheat flour (I use premium), cinnamon and lemon zest. While we are working on the dough and cream, you need to turn on the oven to warm up at 250 degrees in advance (heating time depends on the characteristics of your assistant).

First you need to prepare custard, which will become a delicious filling for future cakes. Pour 200 grams of milk into a small saucepan, add a cinnamon stick and a tablespoon of lemon zest (it is not necessary to chop it - just remove the topmost layer from the lemon without the white part with a knife). In general, you can use ground cinnamon, but then the filling will turn out darkish. Place the pan over medium heat and bring the milk to a boil.

While the milk is heating, make a thickener for the custard in a separate bowl. Pour 100 milliliters of cold (or room temperature) milk into a bowl, add 35 grams of sifted wheat flour. You don't have to sift the flour, but it is advisable to do so to get rid of lumps and possible debris.

With constant stirring, cook the mixture until thickened. Stir the contents of the pan thoroughly and without stopping, otherwise the cream may form lumps or even burn at the bottom. When the custard base is ready, turn off the heat and leave it on the stove - let it continue to soak in the aromas of cinnamon and lemon.

The second component of the custard for paste cakes is sugar syrup. In another saucepan or saucepan, combine 130 milliliters of water (any temperature) and 200 grams of granulated sugar.

All that remains is to strain it through a fine sieve to remove the lemon zest and cinnamon. There may be a few lumps - after straining there will be no trace of them left. Leave the cream to cool until warm - I advise you to cover it with cling film or a bag. We place it directly on top of the cream - thanks to this technique, a crust does not form on the surface.

Next we work with puff pastry without yeast. It is clear that it is best to use homemade ones (), but this time I was lazy and bought ready-made ones. I had store-bought dough in square layers, each of which was separated with cling film - I couldn’t separate them carefully, but that doesn’t matter. I laid 3 layers on top of each other - a total of 450 grams.

After this, the dough roll needs to be cut crosswise into pieces of the same size (about 2 cm each) - a ruler will help you. In total, from this amount of dough and cream I get 12 cakes.

Since I don’t have special metal molds for this Portuguese cake, I used regular silicone ones for cupcakes. Metal ones must be lubricated with butter, but silicone ones do not need to be prepared. Take one piece of puff pastry and place it in the mold so that the cut is at the bottom and top. Using your fingers, spread the dough over the mold, making the bottom and sides.

We form the remaining blanks in the same way. Place the molds with the dough on a baking sheet.

The final stage of preparing the custard. To the still warm (or already cooled) milk base, add 4 raw egg yolks. I use homemade eggs, so the yolk is a rich orange color.

Heavenly Bacon (Toucinho do Ceu)

Visiting Portugal and not trying local sweets is the same as not visiting the country at all. Each place, indeed, has its own signature dish, the secret of which is supposedly kept for generations - and in some places this really is the case! It was not without reason that the Portuguese had a sweet tooth: after the discovery of Madeira in 1452, they began their own sugar production, meeting both the needs of Portugal and a very impressive part of Europe. Since 1500, with the discovery and colonization of Brazil, sugar has become even more abundant in the kingdom. Numerous Portuguese monasteries received as donations countless amounts of not only sugar, but also. The whites were mostly used for household needs such as ironing and starching, but the nuns experimented with yolks in confectionery products produced for sale. So don’t be surprised that most Portuguese sweets are based on sugar and yolks.

1. Pastel de Nata. Lisbon.

Pastel de nata

Pastel de Nata is the main sweet attraction of Portugal; any guidebook will tell you about it; you will find it on the counter of any pastry shop anywhere in the country. In fact, this quiche originated in the monastery of Jerónimos in the town of Belem, which is now a district, and its original name is Pastel de Belém. In 1837, the monks opened a pastry shop next to the monastery - a pastelaria, which still exists today in the same building, on the same place and is called Pasteis de Belém (Pasteis de Belém). Here the Pastels are certainly the most delicious, but the replicas called Pastel de Nata will not leave you indifferent. You can read more about the dessert.

2. Palitos from Oeiras (Palitos de Oeiras). Oeiras (Lisbon district).

Palitos de Oeiras

Palitos, translated from Portuguese as “Toothpicks”, are essentially long dried biscuits. The invention is by no means Portuguese, but was brought in the 18th century by one of the prominent political figures, the Marquis of Pombal, from neighboring European countries. But along with the distance covered, the recipe has also changed, which resembles a cross between lady fingers and Tuscan cantuccini (sponge crackers with almonds). From the end of the 18th to the end of the last century, in the suburbs of Lisbon there was even a factory producing biscuits and pies according to the recipes of the Marquis’s kitchen. Today, you can taste them in at least two pastry shops in Oeiras, where lemon zest and cinnamon are now added to the cookies. Toothpicks are served with white liqueur wine from neighboring Carcavelos (also, by the way, the heritage of the Marquis of Pombal). Oeiras, by the way, is also famous for its “jam” made from white and red onions, which is included in the list of dishes of traditional regional cuisines of the “7 Culinary Wonders of Portugal” competition.

3. Keijadas from Sintra (Queijadas de Sintra). Sintra (Lisbon District).

In appearance, queijadas are somewhat reminiscent of shortbread baskets, and the taste is vaguely reminiscent of cheesecakes. This is one of the few traditional Portuguese sweets, which includes young cheese or, in our language, cottage cheese (queijo translated into Russian as “cheese”). There is a legend that once you could even pay with quejadas in the area. Another legend tells how the Queyjades came to court: King Manuel I, awaiting the arrival of Vasco da Gama’s expedition, decided to relax in the nearby Jeronimo monastery, where the abbot, in the absence of a full lunch, treated the distinguished guest to local sweets. Don Manuel was completely delighted and from then on, queijadas became a permanent dessert at the royal table. By the way, on the ruins of that monastery, they say, the unrivaled Pena Palace, the calling card of Portugal, was later built. Now in Sintra there are several producers of caijadas, including “Casa do Preto”, “Casa Piriquita”, and the oldest (1756) – “Sapa”, which means “Frog” (named after the founder of the factory, Maria Sapa). The last two are located in the very center. Naturally, at any factory there is a cafe where you can taste plenty of sweets, taking some with you.

Queijadas de Sintra

“Keyjadash” is prepared like this: baskets are mixed from flour, water and salt, the dough should be very hard and rest for a day under a damp towel, then rolled out very thin, like a sheet of paper, circles with a diameter of about 6 cm are cut out and baskets are formed. The baskets are filled with a homogeneous mass of pureed cottage cheese, sugar, yolks, flour and cinnamon. All this is baked for 8-10 minutes in a very hot oven.

4. Travesseiros from Sintra (Travesseiros de Sintra). Sintra (Lisbon district).

Travesseiros de Sintra

A rectangular pastry made of puff pastry, very fragile, filled with delicate egg cream with the addition of almonds and generously sprinkled with sugar - this is Traveceiro, which is translated into Russian as “Pillow”. These “Pillows” were invented not so long ago - in the 40s of the last century, but not by just anyone, but by a hereditary confectioner at the Casa de Piriquita factory - the granddaughter of that same “Piriquita”. They say that King Carlos I himself favored this confectionery - the monarch loved the local Quejadas very much. It was with his light hand that the name appeared, because that’s what he called the owner Constance Gomez – fragile, like a small bird “Pirikita”. The recipe for Travesseiros is kept a closely guarded secret, so the real “Pillows” can only be tasted in this pastry shop; you won’t even be able to take them with you - they are too fragile.

5. Bean pastel (Pastei de Feijão). Torres Vedras (Lisbon district).

Pastel de feijao

Bean pastels (pastel de feijao) are a typical Portuguese sweet from the town of Torres Vedras in the form of baskets with a diameter of about 7 centimeters. They are made from flour, sweet white beans, sugar, eggs and almonds. The recipe was invented at the end of the 19th century by Torres Vedras resident Dona Joaquina Rodrigues, who exclusively spoiled her family and friends with these sweets.

Pastel de feijao

Bean pastels made their way outside the family thanks to the commercial spirit of one of the relatives of the author of the recipe named Maria Adelaida Rodrigues da Silva - they not only began to sell successfully in their hometown, but also quickly gained success outside the region. Over time, the recipe developed variations, although almonds and beans always remained its mandatory ingredients. In the 1940s of the 20th century, the sons of Maria da Silva created two confectionery factories, “Coroa” and “Brazão”, thus mechanizing the production process of pastels.

6. Pashtel de Al Madan (Pasteis de Al– Madan). Almada (Setúbal district).

Pastel de Al-Madan

Pashtel de Al Madan, although “young”, is worthy of attention. He was born in 1995, at the same time when his creator João Paulo Ribeiro, fulfilling his dream, opened the Pastelaria Meltejo confectionery in the town of Almada. As the name suggests, this culinary masterpiece was dedicated to Almada, also with reference to his Arab history. “Al-Madan” means “treasury” or “gold mine”, and the color and rectangular shape of the puff pastry resembles a golden bar, as Almada was famous for its gold deposits during the period of Muslim rule. For the filling they use classic yolk cream with almonds, and there are also variations with pumpkin, chocolate, apples, bananas, walnuts and cinnamon. Today, Don Joao's cakes are as much a landmark of Almada as the beaches and the statue of Christ the Redeemer - a replica of the famous statue from Rio de Janeiro. So if you are planning to admire Lisbon from a height and an unusual angle, then feel free to go to the opposite bank of the Tagus River in Almada, take the elevator to the top of the pedestal of the statue of Christ and admire the city, the river and the bright bridge on April 25, and then don’t forget to try the pastel de Al -Madan.

When I was in Portugal last year, their famous custard baskets made absolutely no impression on me. “Burnt puffs with cream,” I said). I tried these cakes solely because a visit to the historical confectionery (founded in 1837) was part of the excursion route. This is what they looked like in the original:

And this summer I wanted those baskets so much that I almost rushed to Lisbon for the weekend) But it’s a 7-hour flight (. The solution was found by itself - the phyllo dough was left over from the strudel, I took the basis of the recipe from the magazine “Tasty and Healthy”. The recipe for Belem cakes is kept, as the guide said, in strict confidence, the chief pastry chef comes early in the morning and alone kneads the dough and cooks the cream according to the preserved recipe of the monks. Supposedly the cream has no sugar at all, only cream, cinnamon and other secret ingredients. And I took the following for 12 pieces:
4 sheets of phyllo dough
70 g butter
For cream:
60 g flour
600 ml mixture of cream 20% and 30%
200 grams of sugar (you can use less)
230 g water
7 yolks
cinnamon stick
cinnamon and powdered sugar for sprinkling
Dissolve flour in a glass of cold cream. In the magazine the recipe was based on milk, but it is absolutely clear that you need to cook it with cream, and at least 20% fat content.
Put a cinnamon stick in the remaining cream, boil, remove from heat (for some reason I followed the magazine recipe and put lemon zest, although it’s absolutely clear that in Portugal there was no zest in the baskets, and I don’t like citrus fruits in baking . The experiment was not a success) - in general, there is no need for zest, 2 cinnamon sticks are better).
Add flour and cream to hot cream with cinnamon, stirring vigorously. Strain if there are any lumps.
Boil sugar syrup with water and boil for 3 minutes.
Pour hot sugar syrup into the cream-flour mixture in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Remove the cinnamon sticks. Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Add the yolks, beating a little. This will be the custard for the cakes.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease 12 muffin tins with vegetable oil. I took separate silicone molds, but it’s better to use tartlet molds rather than muffins, because... they are too tall in my opinion.
Roll out the phyllo dough a little on the table and brush with melted butter. I didn’t separate the sheets, but it’s better to coat each sheet with oil and stack it on top of each other.
Cut the dough into 12 squares (I make half a portion because there is only a small sheet of dough left).
Place each square in a mold with the greased side up, press inward to form baskets. There is no need to lower the edges like I did for beauty, because... they burn, and then you still have to cut them off. It is better to immediately cut along the top edge.
Place custard in each basket.
Bake for about 40 minutes. The cream should rise and become golden brown, and the dough may be deeply fried - this is how it looks in the original in Lisbon.
Remove the cakes from the oven and cool in the pan. Remove from molds and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and powdered sugar. It seems like they served it warm in the cafe, I forgot already).

Getting to know a country without immersing yourself in its gastronomic abyss is like dinner without dessert.

By the way, today we will talk about desserts, and not simple ones, but Portuguese ones. After all, who, if not the Portuguese, inveterate sweet tooths, know a lot about them?

Joana Montbaron and Vladimir Sazhin, owners of a tiny confectionery Bica , housed in a container in the courtyard of the Etazhi loft project.

A married couple with Portuguese roots (Joana is from there) and a love for local desserts were not afraid to open a sweet mono-cafe on the banks of the Neva: there are now only two items on the menu here - pastel di nata and chocolate cake “Maria Louise”, prepared according to a family recipe, and the desserts are complemented by real Portuguese coffee.

In the future, however, they promise to expand the confectionery range. Vladimir is responsible for the kitchen, Joana is responsible for PR and support. Together they welcome guests and happily tell them about Portuguese pastries, coffee and consumer culture.

The basis of many national desserts is eggs, mainly yolks, and a large amount of sugar. The main spices are cinnamon and vanilla. And Portuguese confectioners love lemon and orange - in the form of zest and aromatic juice.

Why yolks, you ask? The answer is simple - from time immemorial, the sails of hundreds of ships moored in Portuguese ports were successfully bleached with egg whites, while the yolks remained unused and were thrown away. But soon enterprising nuns began to use them for baking, and they were right in discovering the secret of the success and fame of Portuguese sweets, which thundered throughout the world.

Portuguese pastelaria is a whole culture. The morning of any self-respecting Portuguese, regardless of the season or political system, begins here - with a cup of strong bica (a variation of expresso) and freshly baked cake.

During the day, you can grab a creamy Berliner on the beach, and dinner will certainly end with a serving of rice pudding. And you don’t have to worry about your figure - the quaint hilly landscape helps you burn extra calories, without a twinge of conscience or unnecessary worries.

Pastel de Nata

A basket of puff pastry with creamy custard is the national pride and number 1 sweet in Portugal. The original recipe for the dessert, according to legend, was mixed by the nuns of the Jeronimos monastery back in the 19th century; in 2011, pastel de Belem was named one of the Seven Gastronomic Wonders of Portugal.

Its recipe is kept in the strictest confidence to this day, forcing sweet tooths from all over the world to line up in long lines for that very standard cake.

Ingredients:

Puff pastry - 600 grams;
Milk - 500 ml;
Flour - 60 grams;
Sugar - 500 grams;
Water - 250 ml;
Chicken yolks - 7 pcs.;
Lemon peel;
Cinnamon stick;

Preparation

Roll the dough into a roll, and then cut into pieces about 1.5 cm thick. Grease the muffin tins with oil and place the dough in them, spreading it over the entire mold.
Boil milk with cinnamon stick and lemon peel, add flour and stir well so that there are no lumps.
Separately, boil water with sugar and gradually add the resulting syrup to the milk mass. Strain the cream through a sieve and cool.
Mix the yolks with the cream and fill the molds 2/3 full.
Bake the cakes in an oven preheated to 250C for 20 minutes.

Vladimir: After returning from an internship in Lisbon, I spent a long time searching for the right ingredients to get that same taste of Portuguese pastel. So in the original recipe there is almost twice as much sugar as in our pastels.

The Portuguese have less sweet sugar, which is why they add more of it. And that is why our cakes are less “tanned”, their crust is not so caramelized.

The second important ingredient is eggs. Our laying hens, unlike the Portuguese ones, do not have enough sunlight, so their yolks are light.

The flour, of course, is also different, and so is the butter. It took more than one kilogram of food to come up with the perfect recipe through trial and error.

Joana: The pastel should be eaten warm, generously sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Carrot roll (Torta de Cenoura)

An elegant, bright cake that not only tastes delicate, but is also extremely easy to prepare. Carrots here literally turn from a boring root vegetable into a juicy sweet fruit, so it’s not surprising that even picky children love this dessert.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 500 grams;
Sugar - 450 grams;
Egg - 4 pcs;
Flour - 125 grams;
Zest of one orange;
Juice of one orange;
Salt;
Ground cinnamon;
Powdered sugar.

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and boil until soft, let cool slightly, then puree with a blender.
Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with sugar and half the zest, add carrot puree and strained orange juice, beat again. Add flour to the resulting mixture and stir well. Beat the whites to soft peaks, add them to the dough and mix.
Line the baking dish with baking paper so that the edges of the paper protrude 5-7 cm above the sides. Grease with oil, carefully pour the dough into the mold, smooth it out. Bake at 200 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.
Place the finished cake on a sheet of baking paper sprinkled with a mixture of powdered sugar and cinnamon. Remove the paper on which the cake was baked and carefully roll it into a roll.

Vladimir: Before serving, sprinkle the roll with the remaining orange zest.

Farofias

A typical dessert from the central Lisbon province of Extremadura. Airy protein islands or clouds (whichever is closer), drowning in a sweet creamy sauce. Weightless pleasure!

Ingredients:

Milk - 750 ml;
Sugar - 180 grams;
Egg - 6 pcs;
Corn flour - 1 tsp;
Lemon zest.

Preparation:

Mix milk and sugar (100 g) in a saucepan, add lemon zest and bring to a boil.
Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites and remaining sugar into a strong foam. Using a spoon, carefully lower the resulting mass into the boiling milk and then place it on a plate. Pass the milk through a sieve.
Mix the yolks with a teaspoon of corn flour, add the milk (in which the whites were cooked), put on the fire and bring to a boil. Cool and pour this cream over the farofia.

Joana: In winter, you can prepare Farófias no forno in the oven, a baked version of the dessert.

Orange roll (Torta de Laranja)

Despite the name, this dessert is more like a moist pudding with a bright aroma of orange and cinnamon rather than a roll. The Portuguese traditionally serve it with a glass of port.

Ingredients:

Sugar - 300 grams;
Flour - 1 tsp;
Egg - 8 pcs;
Oranges - 2 pcs.

Preparation:

Mix sugar with flour, add eggs, juice and zest of two oranges, and beat well.
Pour the resulting mixture onto a greased baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in an oven preheated to 220C for about 20 minutes.
Place the finished cake on a kitchen towel sprinkled with sugar and quickly roll it up. Let cool and garnish with orange slices.

Vladimir: In my family, such a roll is baked in a steam bath for 40-45 minutes. And the recipe is slightly different: we take only 250 g of sugar (don’t forget that Russian sugar is sweeter) and 6 eggs.

"Torta de Azeitão"

Sponge rolls with sweet egg cream. Tortash, like orange pudding, goes well with aromatic Portuguese port.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 10 pcs;
Sugar - 200 grams;
Flour - 35 grams

Preparation:

Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with sugar until the consistency of thick sour cream. Add flour and beat well again.
Separately, beat the egg whites until peaks form. Carefully add the resulting mixture to the yolks.
Pour the dough into a greased baking tray, let it stand for 10 minutes. Then put it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 220 C. The core of the sponge cake should remain moist and juicy.
Remove the resulting biscuit from the oven and quickly roll it into a roll. Cut into strips approximately 8 cm long.

Joana: You can try the best Tortas in Azeitau's oldest pastry shop, Pastelaria Cego, opened since 1901.

Cookie cake “Bolo de bolacha”

A cake that can be found in every pastry shop in Portugal, but it’s also not difficult to prepare it at home yourself - for this you only need a pack of Maria cookies, good butter and a cup of strong coffee.

Ingredients:

Cookies “Maria” 400 grams;
Egg yolk - 4 pcs.;
Butter - 125 grams;
Sugar - 250 grams;
A portion of freshly brewed coffee;
Coconut flakes;
Cookie crumbs.

Preparation:

Beat the yolks with sugar and butter.
Dip cookies into coffee until soft. Place cookies in layers alternating with cream. Sprinkle the last layer of cream with coconut and crushed cookie crumbs.

Joana:"Bolo de bolacha" is such a popular dessert that it exists in Lisbon institution, where they cook it exclusively.

Easter cake of kings (Bolo-Rei)

A sweet butter pie with dried fruits, candied fruits and nuts is the main decoration of the Christmas table in Portugal. Bolu-Ray symbolizes one of the gifts to the newborn Jesus from the three wise men: the shape of the dessert resembles a crown, and the bright red and green candied fruits resemble the precious stones that decorated the clothes of the wise men.

It is customary to put surprises in such a pie - small figures of saints, baby Jesus, angels or beans. There is also a variation of “Queen's Pie” - with raisins and nuts.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 350 grams;
Egg - 2 pcs;
Sugar - 60 grams;
Butter - 60 grams;
Trembling - 20 grams;
Milk - 35 ml;
Zest of half an orange;
Cognac - 1 tsp;
Salt on the tip of the knife;
Candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts to taste;
Candied fruits for decoration;
Powdered sugar;
Yolk for greasing.

Preparation:

Heat some milk, dissolve yeast and salt in it. Beat the eggs separately, add melted warm butter, milk and hot water.
Pour the flour into a bowl, add orange zest to it, stir. Add sugar there and mix. Make a well in the flour, pour in the egg mixture and knead the dough thoroughly.
After the dough is thoroughly kneaded, add candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts, and continue kneading until the dough stops sticking to your hands. Cover the bowl with the dough with a cloth and place in a warm place for an hour or two to allow the dough to rise properly.
When the dough has doubled in volume, you can start baking. Shape the dough into a crown-shaped pie, place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, sprinkled with flour, brush with egg yolk, and garnish with fruits and nuts.
Leave the cake to stand for 15 minutes, then place in the oven at 180° and bake for about 30 minutes. Decorate the finished cake with powdered sugar on top.

Joana: The recipe for the pie was brought from France in the 19th century by Baltasar Castanheira, the owner of one of the most famous pastry shops in Lisbon, Confeitaria Nacional. Here and now, every Christmas there are long lines of people wanting to buy the best Bolu-Ray.

Chocolate mousse (Mousse de chocolate)

The Portuguese are very fond of a variety of mousses, but their favorite is probably chocolate. Rich, thick and aromatic. This dessert is prepared one or two times and can be served even by an inexperienced cook.

Ingredients:

Cream - 125 ml;
Sugar - 100 grams;
Dark chocolate - 100 grams;
Milk chocolate - 100 grams;
Espresso shot - 60 ml;
Chocolate sprinkles - 50 grams;
Egg - 5 pcs.

Preparation:

Chop the chocolate and melt in a water bath. Pour in coffee, stir and cool slightly.
Mix the yolks with half the sugar, pour liquid chocolate into this mixture, stir. Whip the cream and stir into the cream.
Mix the egg whites with the remaining sugar and gently fold into the rest of the mixture.
Place the mousse in bowls, sprinkle grated chocolate on top, cover with film and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Joana: Most often, in restaurant refrigerators there are actually bowls with “mousse de chocolate”. But sometimes there are also coffee and chocolate variations.

Milk cream (Crème de Leite)

This popular Portuguese dessert is especially loved by children. It is extremely easy to prepare, does not require baking, and can be made much in advance before guests arrive - this will only make it tastier.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 liter;
Yolks - 10 pcs.;
Sugar - 200 grams;
Corn starch - 50 grams;
Zest of one lemon;
Cinnamon stick;
Brown sugar for roasting.

Preparation:

Boil milk with a cinnamon stick and lemon zest, remove from heat.
Mix the yolks in a saucepan with sugar and cornstarch, mix thoroughly with a whisk, but do not beat.
Place the saucepan over low heat and immediately pour hot milk into the yolk-sugar mixture. Pour in a thin stream, stirring continuously. Cook until thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
Divide the mixture into refractory bowls and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour until completely cooled.
Before serving, sprinkle the cooled cream with brown sugar and use a torch to create a thin caramel crust.

Vladimir: Milk cream can be flavored not only with zest and cinnamon, but also with any spices you like. Sometimes almond petals and berries are added to it. This should be done before pouring the cream into the bowls.

"Ovos moles" (Soft eggs)

Sweet egg cream hidden in a thin wafer shell is one of the most beloved and unusual Portuguese desserts. The history of the recipe originates in the coastal province of Beira Litoral and it is no coincidence that the sweetness is prepared in the form of a shell or fish, which perfectly reflects the sea soul of Portugal.

This is a lighter version of the recipe - just the filling. And the Portuguese also wrap it in thin dough and bake it.

Ingredients:

Sugar - 500 grams;
Water - 300 ml;
Chicken yolks - 26 pcs;
Cinnamon.

Preparation:

Make a sugar syrup from sugar and water and then slowly fold it into the yolks. Add cinnamon.
Cook the mixture over low heat and stir constantly so that the filling does not burn.

Vladimir: You can also add grated nuts, orange or lemon zest. "Ovos moles" can be used as a decoration for various confectionery products.

"Walnut" (Docinho de Noz)

Delicate and sweet caramelized egg cream, topped with walnuts.

Ingredients:

Condensed milk - 1 can;
Yolks - 2 pcs;
Almonds - 100 grams;
Sugar;
Walnuts.

Preparation:

In a saucepan, mix the milk with the yolks and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add ground nuts, mix well and remove from heat.
Pour the dough into a greased dish and let cool.
Roll into balls, roll in sugar crumbs and decorate with nuts.

"Drunken Pear" (Pêra Bebada)

A local variation of our usual baked apples - simple, tasty, spicy and boozy. No one will remain indifferent.

Ingredients:

Dry red wine - 750 ml;
Orange juice - 250 ml;
Sugar - 200 grams;
Cinnamon - 1 tsp;
Pears - 8 pcs.

Preparation:

Advice: It is better to choose pears that are not soft, but semi-hard and small in size (as in Portugal itself, the Rocha variety is most often used for this dish).

Peel the pears and place in a saucepan, pour sugar, cinnamon on top and pour wine and orange juice. You can also add a drop of port wine to the syrup for flavor.
Cook over medium heat for about an hour - the pears will become soft, but they should not be boiled, and the syrup will thicken in the meantime.

Vladimir: This dessert is served cold, in tandem with vanilla ice cream.

Rice pudding (Arroz doce)

Rice pudding for a Portuguese is the same as grandma’s jam for a Russian. Every meal in the country's restaurants ends with a sweet and melt-in-the-mouth delicacy with the inevitable aroma of cinnamon and lemon.

Ingredients:

Water - 50 ml;
Milk - 100 ml;
Rice - 40 grams;
Zest of one lemon;
Cinnamon stick;
Butter - 15 grams;
Ground cinnamon - 1 gram.

Preparation:

For this dessert you need to use Arborio rice or other short grain rice. Boil water, add rice and cook until half cooked.
Pour the milk into a non-stick saucepan, add lemon zest, sugar and cinnamon, and bring to a boil. By this time the rice should have absorbed the water.
Carefully, stirring constantly, pour the hot milk with spices into the pan with the rice. Cook over low heat for about twenty minutes until the rice is completely soft. Remove from heat, remove zest and cinnamon, and cool slightly.
Grind the yolk with butter at room temperature and add to the finished rice. Mix thoroughly and distribute into molds.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for ten minutes.
Cool. When serving, sprinkle with ground cinnamon and powdered sugar to taste.

Joana: A very popular dessert throughout Portugal, there are many different regional variations: arroz-doce de Cesto (with coffee and without lemon zest), à moda de Coimbra (without eggs), à Moda de Oliveira do Hospital (without eggs and without lemon), Saloio (with a lot of yolks).

Almond

Glazed almonds, chocolate covered almonds and just almonds are traditional Easter sweets in Portugal.

Joana: Almonds are a symbol of the sunny Algarve, the southernmost province of Portugal, where my mother is from. They literally grow everywhere there! In the south, they are usually cooked separately (toucinho-do-céu, carriços, carrasquinhas or arrepiadas) or inside dried figs (figes cheios).

These Portuguese pastries are called pasteis de nata or pasteis de belem, as they were originally only available in one pastry shop in Belem. They are made from custard and puff pastry. But the dough is made with slight differences from the usual puff pastry and the custard is also different in technology. If you don’t know how to do it, you can take a regular patissiere or custard and a piece of ready-made puff pastry. In the case of cream, it may even be better, but the dough, after all, is better to make at home (if you use normal butter and not cheap margarine). But I wanted authenticity, and I followed a Portuguese recipe. Although, supposedly, even they do not know the correct recipe for pasta, because its original recipe is kept secret.
Regarding technology, the cakes are baked at the highest possible temperature. If you have the opportunity to bet 300*, bet. I have 250* maximum. The oven should be very hot. Yes, and the molds must be special. I don’t have these, I took small cocotte bowls with a volume of 60 ml, these proportions will make 24 pieces.
Possible additives - cocoa, coffee, vanilla... sometimes the cakes are even topped with caramel

Dough (or 600 g ready-made puff pastry)
250 g flour
a pinch of salt
140 ml water
180 g softened butter

Cream:
300 ml. milk
3 tbsp. flour
180 g sugar
80 ml. water
6 yolks
cinnamon stick
A piece of zest about 5 cm, without white skin

The dough can be kneaded in a food processor by combining all the ingredients together and kneading for about 1-2 minutes. Or knead by hand for at least 7 minutes. Leave the dough under the film at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a generously floured table into a thin rectangle with a large side of about 50 cm. Brush off any remaining flour with a brush. Optionally divide the dough into three parts. Lubricate the left and central parts with softened butter. Fold the right side over the center side and brush off any remaining flour from the dough. Fold the left side of the dough onto it. Turn the dough so that the rectangle becomes horizontal and roll the dough into a thin rectangular layer.
Do the second point one or two more times. Finally, grease the entire area of the dough with oil and carefully roll it into a roll, starting from the larger side. Cut the dough into 3-4 pieces and wrap in film and leave in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Prepare the cream: boil the syrup - add sugar to water, add zest and cinnamon, bring to a boil and simmer slightly over high heat (just until the bubbles become large, we are not talking about any caramel) if anyone has thermometer for syrup - it should be about 100*C
Combine flour and 1/4 milk, stir thoroughly so that there are no lumps. Bring the remaining milk to a boil, then pour the flour mixture into it in a thin stream, stirring occasionally. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to softened butter. Those. quite thick. Stir in the warm syrup little by little and strain. Stir in lightly beaten yolks.
Cut the dough into pieces slightly larger than your thumb. Place pieces of dough into the molds and spread it over the mold, pressing the dough with your thumbs, starting from the middle and ending towards the edge of the mold.
Pour the cream into the watering can, squeezing the neck from below with one finger. Pour the cream into the molds, removing your finger from the hole near the watering can (this is a very convenient way to pour the cream, but if you want, you can try without a watering can). Forms must be filled out 2/3 full.
Preheat the oven to 250 * if you have a grill, it is better to use it. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. The cream should not rise much. If it starts to grow, immediately remove the cakes from the oven. Cool the cakes slightly in the pans, then remove, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon and serve. With cocoa or coffee with milk.

This is how I filled out the forms