Not everyone knows that the Portuguese are the real sweet tooth. No lunch or dinner in this country ends without dessert. So you can safely go on a trip to Portugal, where local pastry shops and cafes will delight tourists unusually. delicious pastries and aromatic coffee. Well, the main sweet delicacy here is the Portuguese "Pasteish" cake, which is a basket of puff pastry with creamy custard. The recipe for this unique dessert is presented in our article. Step-by-step instruction makes it easy to cook at home.

History of dessert

The full name of this national Portuguese sweet sounds like Pasteis de nata, which means "cream cake". It's hard to believe, but a delicious puff pastry basket with tender cream filling inside was invented by a monk - a confectioner of one of the Portuguese monasteries. It happened at the beginning of the 18th century. But already in 1837, after the liberal revolution of 1820, the monastic recipe was sold to an entrepreneur with Brazilian roots, Domingo Rafael Alves, who began to prepare his pastries according to it.

Today, this man's business is continued by his heirs, who own a pastry shop in the popular Lisbon town of Belem. It is believed that only here you can taste the most delicious custard cakes prepared according to the original recipe. Cakes are made exclusively by hand. Moreover, visitors can watch the process through the glass part of the wall.

The secrets of making Portuguese pasta pasta

To make the dessert really tasty, you need to consider the following nuances.

1. According to the recipe, Portuguese custard cakes are baked at a temperature of at least 250 ° C. Otherwise, the butter starts to flow out of the dough and the layers become dry and tasteless.
2. Ready cream after adding egg yolks to it, it is recommended to pour it into a jug with a neck. So it will be more convenient to pour it into baskets.
3. In the process of baking, the cream rises strongly in the oven, and in order for it to turn rosy as in original recipe, 5 minutes before the end of cooking, it is recommended to turn on the "Grill" mode.

Dessert Ingredients

Portuguese pastries are made from puff pastry yeast-free dough. You can buy it at the store or make your own. In this case, the test will need the following ingredients:

• flour - 450 g;
• butter 82.5% - 250 g;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• vodka - 1 tbsp. l.;
• table vinegar 9% - 3 tsp;
• water 180 ml;
• salt - ¼ tsp

For the cakes themselves, you need to prepare the following products:

• puff yeast-free dough- 450 g;
• milk - 300 ml;
• water - 130 ml;
• sugar - 200 g;
• egg yolks - 4 pcs.;
• flour - 35 g;
• cinnamon - 1 stick;
• lemon zest - 1 tbsp. l.

The dough for dessert should be made in advance, at least a day before the main preparation. This is perhaps the most time-consuming part of the recipe.

Puff pastry for cakes

The basis of this dessert is a dough basket. Of course, you can use the semi-finished product, presented in almost every store. But it is from homemade yeast-free puff pastry that the most delicious Portuguese custard cakes are obtained.

The test recipe consists of the following steps:

1. In a glass with a volume of 250 ml, beat 1 egg, add salt, bite and vodka. Add about 180 ml of water. The total volume of the liquid part should be 250 ml.
2. Sift 400 g of flour on the table. Make a well in the center and pour the liquid part into it.
3. Knead the dough, adding a little flour if necessary. For elasticity, it is recommended to beat it on the table up to 50 times. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave on the counter for at least 1 hour.
4. In a food processor, combine cold butter and 50 g flour. When the mass becomes homogeneous, put it on a sheet of parchment, cover with a second sheet and roll with a rolling pin. You should get a thin (1 cm) layer square shape. Put it directly with parchment in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough into a rectangle with sides of 25 and 30 cm. Put the butter blank in the center and cover it with the free edges of the dough. Stretch the rectangle if necessary. Pinch the edges, then send the dough to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. Without unfolding the rectangle, roll it with a rolling pin from the center up and down. You should get a layer 1 cm thick. After that, fold it with a book to make 3 layers again. Refrigerate the dough for half an hour.
7. Repeat the steps described in the previous step 3-4 more times. Ready dough wrap in cling film, chill well for 2-3 hours and use as directed.

Preparing soft custard

What makes a cake so delicious? Certainly this the most delicate filling from custard with a pleasant aroma of vanilla and a spicy lemon note. By the way, it is quite easy to prepare it. To do this, it is only recommended to follow the following instructions:

1. Boil milk (200 ml) in a saucepan, after adding a cinnamon stick and zest, cut with a knife from a lemon.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the cream thickener. To do this, in a separate bowl, combine the remaining milk with flour and mix so that the mass becomes homogeneous and without lumps.
3. When the milk boils, reduce the fire. Pour the thickener into the saucepan in a thin stream and quickly mix with a whisk. Bring the cream to the desired consistency and remove from heat.
4. cook sugar syrup by combining water and sugar. After boiling, cook it for 3 minutes over medium heat.
5. Pour the finished sugar syrup into the milk part of the cream. Mix well with a spoon or whisk.
6. Strain the cream through a sieve to get rid of the zest and cinnamon. Cover with cling film close to the surface and leave on the counter to cool. When the cream becomes warm, add egg yolks to it and mix well.

Assembly and baking of cakes

Before working on the dough and cream, the oven must be heated to 250 ° C. And then in the cooking process, you should follow the following sequence of actions:

1. Roll out the dough into a rectangle with a side of 24 cm, roll it up and cut into equal parts 2 cm thick.
2. Grease inside metal cake molds butter. Lay out the circles of dough so that the cut is at the top and bottom. Gently spread it out with your fingers.
3. Fill the blanks with cream, not reaching the edge of 5 mm.
4. Put the mold in the preheated oven on the middle level. Bake cakes for 25 minutes.

Jamie Oliver Portuguese Custard Recipe

worldwide famous chef prepares a popular dessert in a slightly different way. The following instructions will help you repeat Portuguese cakes from Jamie Oliver:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Prepare a square of dough with a size of 20x20 cm and a thickness of 5-7 mm. Roll it into a roll and cut into 6 pieces.
3. Prepare muffin cups. Put a piece of dough in them and knead it with your fingers so that a cavity for the filling forms in the center.
4. Place the molds on the top rack of the oven. Bake the cupcakes for 10 minutes until light golden brown.
5. Instead of custard, Jamie Oliver uses cream fresh for filling cakes. It will need 250 g. Cream fresh must be transferred to a bowl, add vanilla extract, orange zest and a tablespoon of sugar.
6. Remove the baskets from the oven, crush the swollen middle with a spoon, and put fresh cream in the center.
7. Place the cakes on the top rack for another 8 minutes.

Orange caramel for dessert decoration

Portuguese cakes from Jamie Oliver are a little different from confectionery prepared according to the original recipe. From above they are watered with fragrant and very tasty orange caramel. It is prepared very simply:

1. Squeeze orange juice into a small saucepan and put it on fire.
2. Add sugar (4 tablespoons).
3. Stirring constantly, bring the caramel to a thick consistency and pour it over the cakes. Thanks to an interesting orange note, the products will become even tastier.

If you've been to Lisbon, you probably haven't missed the local goodies - pastéis de nata. These small cakes with custard - custard vanilla cream, are known all over the world, but the most delicious ones are still cooked in their homeland - in Portugal.
We will also prepare puff pastries with vanilla cream, maybe not according to the traditional Portuguese recipe passed down from generation to generation, but still insanely similar to Lisbon Belem pastries, considered the most delicious of all pastéis de nata. So light and crispy on the outside, with a caramelized crust and the most delicate vanilla cream inside, just delicious :)

Ingredients

• 1 glass of milk
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch,
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1 cup white sugar
• 6 egg yolks,
• 500 g plain puff pastry.

Recipe for making cakes

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees C.
2. Lightly grease 12 baking tins with butter.
3. We are preparing the filling. In a saucepan, mix milk, corn starch, sugar and vanilla. Heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.
4. Whisk the yolks in a separate bowl.
5. Slowly add 1/2 cup hot milk mixture to the yolks and stir.
6. Now gradually add the egg yolk mixture back into the remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly.
7. Heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Remove the vanilla pod.
8. Chilled puff pastry cut into circles and distribute in shape with a layer about 3 mm thick. In general, the Portuguese first sculpt a sausage from puff pastry (roll out a layer of dough and roll it into a sausage roll), cut it across like a roll, and these rolls are already smeared manually into molds. Any method is acceptable, even if you cut the dough into squares and put them in molds, the main thing is to do it quickly so that the butter does not melt between the dough layers.
9. Filling the dough custard filling and bake in the preheated oven for 17 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is lightly browned on top.

The cakes are ready. Serve warm. Bon Appetit!

But before we get to Portugal, let's make these cakes at home. They are prepared easily and fairly quickly. For their preparation, puff pastry and custard are used, which is saturated with aromas. lemon peel and cinnamon. It is possible to describe their excellent taste for a very long time, but it is better to try once. So let's get started.

Prepare necessary set ingredients.

First of all, we prepare the custard. Pour 200 ml of milk into a small saucepan, add cinnamon stick and lemon zest. The zest can be grated or carefully cut from a lemon with a knife. The main thing is that the crust should be without a white part, otherwise it will be bitter. Put the pot on the fire and bring to a boil.

Pour the remaining milk (100 ml) into a separate bowl and add the flour.

Mix thoroughly so that there are no lumps.

Pour the flour mixture into the boiling milk in a thin stream. Stirring constantly, boil for about 1 minute, until thickened, then remove the pan from heat.

Cook sugar syrup separately. Pour water into a saucepan or small saucepan and add sugar.

Without stirring, send to the fire. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.

Pour the hot syrup into the milk-flour mixture in a thin stream, stirring constantly with a whisk.

The custard is almost ready. Strain it through a sieve to remove any lumps, lemon zest and cinnamon.

Cover the cream tightly cling film so that a crust does not form, and cool to room temperature. Add the egg yolks to the warm cream and mix well. The custard for the Portuguese pasties is ready.

Roll the puff pastry into a roll. I had 4 sheets that I folded individually.

Cut into circles 1.5-2 cm thick.

Divide the batter into cupcake pans and spread it out with your hands to form the bottom and sides. If you have metal molds, then they must first be greased with butter. Silicone lubrication is not necessary.

Fill the molds with cream, not reaching the edges of about 5 mm (as in the photo). The cream will rise a lot during baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in an oven preheated to 250 degrees. The baking time depends solely on your oven. The dough should be baked and become golden in color, and the cream should thicken and brown.

Delicious Portuguese pasties with custard are ready. From the indicated amount of ingredients, I got 20 small cakes.

Take them out of the molds, cool a little, and you can taste. They are served warm or chilled with a cup of aromatic tea.

Bon Appetit!

When I was in Portugal last year, I was completely unimpressed by their famous custard baskets. "Burnt puffs with cream," I said). I tried these cakes solely because a visit to the historic confectionery (founded in 1837) was included in 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 took 7 hours to fly (. The solution was found by itself - the filo dough was left from the strudel, I took the basis of the recipe in the Tasty and Healthy magazine. The recipe for Belem cakes is stored, as the guide said, in strict confidence, the chief confectioner comes early in the morning and alone kneads the dough and cooks the cream according to the preserved recipe of the monks. Allegedly, the cream is without sugar at all, only cream, cinnamon and other secret ingredients. And I took the following for 12 pieces:
4 sheets filo pastry
70 gr butter
For cream:
60 gr flour
600 ml cream mixture 20% and 30%
200 grams of sugar (you can take less)
230 gr water
7 yolks
cinnamon stick
cinnamon and powdered sugar for sprinkling
Dilute flour in a glass of cold cream. In the magazine, the recipe was in milk, but it was done for sure that it was necessary to cook with cream, and at least 20% fat.
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 certain that in Portugal there was no zest in baskets, and I don’t like citrus fruits in baking The experiment failed) - zest, in general, is not necessary, 2 cinnamon sticks are better).
Add flour with cream to hot cream with cinnamon, stirring vigorously. Strain if lumps form.
Boil sugar syrup with water, boil it for 3 minutes.
Pour the hot sugar syrup into the flour mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Take out the cinnamon sticks. Strain the mass through a sieve.
Add yolks, whisking slightly. This will be the custard for the cakes.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. grease vegetable oil molds for 12 muffins. I took separate silicone molds, but it’s still better to form for tartlets, and not for muffins, because. they are too high in my opinion.
Roll out the phyllo dough a little on the table, grease with melted butter. I did not separate the sheets, but it is 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 serving, because there is only a small sheet of dough left).
Put each square in a mold with a greased side up, press inward to make baskets. The edges do not need to be lowered down, as I did for beauty, because. they burn, and then they still have to be cut off. It is better to immediately cut along the top edge.
Put custard in each basket.
Bake for about 40 minutes. The cream should rise, become golden brown, and the dough can be deep fried - this is how it looks in the original in Lisbon.
Remove the cakes from the oven, cool in the form. Remove from molds, sprinkle with ground cinnamon and powdered sugar. It seems to be served warm in a cafe, I forgot already).

Getting to know a country without diving into its gastronomic abyss is like having dinner without dessert.

Desserts, by the way, will be discussed today, but not simple ones, but Portuguese ones. After all, who, if not the Portuguese, inveterate sweet tooth, know a lot about them?

Joana Montbaron and Vladimir Sazhin, the owners of a tiny Confectionery Bica located 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 was not afraid to open a sweet mono-cafe on the banks of the Neva: there are only two positions on the menu now - pastel di nata and chocolate muffin"Maria Luisa", prepared according to a family recipe, and real Portuguese coffee complements the desserts.

In the future, however, they promise expansion confectionery assortment. Vladimir is responsible for the kitchen, Joana - for PR and support. Together they welcome guests and are happy to tell them about Portuguese pastries, coffee and consumer culture.

The basis of many national desserts are eggs, mostly yolks, and a large number of Sahara. The main spices are cinnamon and vanilla. Also, Portuguese confectioners love lemon and orange - in the form of zest and fragrant juice.

Why yolks, you ask? The answer is simple - the sails of hundreds of ships moored in Portuguese ports have been successfully bleached for centuries. egg white, and the yolks remained out of work and went to waste. But soon enterprising nuns began to use them for baking, and did not fail, having discovered the secret of success and fame of Portuguese sweets, which thundered all over the world.

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

During the day on the beach you can catch a creamy bolen berliner, and dinner is sure to end with a serving of rice pudding. And you don’t have to worry about the figure - a bizarre hilly landscape helps to burn extra calories, without a twinge of conscience and unnecessary worries.

Pastel de Nata (Pasteis de Nata)

A puff pastry basket with creamy custard is a national pride and number 1 sweet in Portugal. According to legend, the original dessert recipe was mixed by the nuns of the Jeronimos monastery back in the 19th century; in 2011, pastel de Beleign was named one of the Seven gastronomic wonders Portugal.

To this day, its recipe is kept in the strictest confidence, forcing sweet tooth from all over the world to line up in long queues for that same reference 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;

Cooking

1. Roll the dough into a roll, and then cut into pieces about 1.5 cm thick. Lubricate the cupcake molds with oil and put the dough in them, distributing it over the entire form.
2. Boil milk with cinnamon stick and lemon peel, add flour and stir well so that there are no lumps.
3. Boil water with sugar separately and gradually add the resulting syrup to the milk mass. Strain the cream through a sieve and chill.
4. Mix the yolks with the cream and fill them with 2/3 molds.
5. Bake cakes in an oven preheated to 250C for 20 minutes.

Vladimir: After returning from an internship in Lisbon, I spent a long time looking for the right ingredients to get the very 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, so they put 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 layers, unlike the Portuguese ones, do not have enough sunlight, so their yolks are light.

Flour, of course, is also different, and oil. It took more than one kilogram of products to bring out your ideal recipe by trial and error.

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

Carrot roll (Torta de Cenoura)

An elegant bright cake, which is not only delicate in taste, but also extremely easy to prepare. Carrot here literally turns from a boring root vegetable into a juicy sweet fruit, so it is 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.

Cooking:

1. Peel and boil the carrots until soft, let cool slightly, then mash with a blender until mashed.
2. Separate whites from yolks. Beat the yolks with sugar and half the zest, add carrot puree and strained orange juice, beat again. Pour in flour mixture, stir well. Beat egg whites to soft peaks, add to batter and mix.
3. Lay out the baking dish 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.
4. Put 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: Sprinkle the roll with the remaining orange zest before serving.

Farofii (Farofias)

Typical dessert of the central province of Lisbon Extremadura. Air protein islands or clouds (whoever is closer), drowning in sweet cream sauce. Weightless pleasure!

Ingredients:

• Milk - 750 ml;
• Sugar - 180 grams;
• Egg - 6 pcs;
• Cornmeal - 1 tsp;
• Lemon peel.

Cooking:

1. In a saucepan, mix milk and sugar (100 g), add lemon zest and bring to a boil.
2. Separate whites from yolks. Whisk the egg whites and the remaining sugar into a stiff peak. With a spoon, carefully lower the resulting mass into boiling milk, and then put it on a dish. Pass milk through a sieve.
3. Mix the yolks with a teaspoon cornmeal, add milk (in which proteins were boiled), put on fire and bring to a boil. Cool and pour this farofia cream over.

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

Orange Roll (Torta de Laranja)

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

Ingredients:

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

Cooking:

1. Mix sugar with flour, add eggs, juice and zest of two oranges, and beat well.
2. Pour the resulting mixture onto a baking sheet greased with butter and covered with baking paper, and bake in an oven preheated to 220C for about 20 minutes.
3. Submit finished cake on a kitchen towel sprinkled with sugar and quickly roll up the roll. 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 (do not forget that Russian sugar is sweeter) and 6 eggs.

Torta de Azeitão

Biscuit rolls with sweet egg cream. "Tortash", like orange pudding, goes well with fragrant Portuguese port.

Ingredients:

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

Cooking:

1. Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with sugar until the consistency of thick sour cream. Add flour and beat well again.
2. Separately, beat egg whites until peak. Carefully add the resulting mass to the yolks.
3. Pour the dough into a greased baking sheet, let it stand for 10 minutes. Then send it to the oven and bake for 15 minutes at a temperature of 220 C. The core of the biscuit should remain raw and juicy.
4. Remove the resulting biscuit from the oven and quickly roll it into a roll. Cut into strips about 8 cm long.

Joana: The best Tortashi can be tasted in the oldest confectionery in Azeitau, Pastelaria Cego, which has been open since 1901.

Biscuit cake "Bolo de bolacha"

A cake that can be found in every confectionery in Portugal, but it’s not difficult to make it at home on your own - 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;
• Cookie crumb.

Cooking:

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

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

Easter cake of kings (Bolo-Rei)

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

It is customary to put surprises in such a cake - small figures of saints, baby Jesus, angels or beans. There is also a variation of the "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 a knife;
• Candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts to taste;
• Candied fruits for decoration;
• Powdered sugar;
• Yolk for lubrication.

Cooking:

1. Heat some milk, dissolve yeast and salt in it. Separately, beat the eggs, add melted warm butter, milk and hot water to them.
2. Pour the flour into a bowl, add to it orange peel, stir. Add sugar there, mix. Make a well in the flour, pour it in egg mixture and knead the dough thoroughly.
3. After the dough is thoroughly kneaded, add candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts to it, and continue kneading until the dough stops sticking to your hands. Cover the bowl with the dough with a cloth and leave it in a warm place for an hour or two so that the dough rises properly.
4. When the dough has doubled in volume, you can start baking. Form a crown-shaped pie from the dough, place it on a baking sheet with parchment paper sprinkled with flour and brush with egg yolk, garnish with fruit and nuts.
5. Leave the cake to stand for 15 minutes, then send it to the oven heated to 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 Balthazar Castaneira, the owner of one of the most famous pastry shops in Lisbon, Confitaria Nacional. Here and now every Christmas there are long lines of people who want to buy the best Bolu-Rei.

Chocolate mousse (Mousse de chocolate)

The Portuguese are very fond of a variety of mousses, but perhaps the favorite is chocolate. Rich, thick and aromatic. Such a dessert is prepared for one or two and will be served even by an inexperienced chef.

Ingredients:

• Cream - 125 ml;
• Sugar - 100 grams;
• Bitter chocolate - 100 grams;
• Milk chocolate - 100 grams;
• Espresso shot - 60 ml;
• Chocolate topping - 50 grams;
• Egg - 5 pcs.

Cooking:

1. Chop the chocolate and melt in a water bath. Pour in coffee, stir and cool a little.
2. Mix the yolks with half the sugar, pour liquid chocolate into this mixture, mix. Whip cream, fold into cream.
3. Mix the whites with the remaining sugar, gently fold into the rest of the mass.
4. Put the mousse in bowls, sprinkle with grated chocolate on top, cover with a film and remove for 3 hours in the cold.

Joana: Most often, bowls with “mousse de chocolate” really spin in restaurant refrigerators. 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 the 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.

Cooking:

1. Boil milk with cinnamon stick and lemon zest, remove from heat.
2. Mix the yolks in a saucepan with sugar and corn starch, mix thoroughly with a whisk, but do not beat.
3. Put the saucepan on a slow fire and immediately pour hot milk into the yolk-sugar mixture. Pour in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened about 1-2 minutes.
4. Pour the mixture into refractory bowls and refrigerate for at least an hour, until completely cool.
5. Before serving, sprinkle the chilled cream with brown sugar and use a cooking torch to make a thin caramel crust.

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

"Ovos moles" (Soft eggs)

Sweet egg cream hidden in a thin waffle 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 marine soul of Portugal.

This is a light version of the recipe - only the filling. And the Portuguese still wrap it in thin dough and bake.

Ingredients:

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

Cooking:

1. Make sugar syrup with water and sugar, then slowly fold it into the yolks. Add cinnamon.
2. 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.

"Walnut" (Docinho de Noz)

Delicate and sweet egg cream in caramel, decorated with walnuts on top.

Ingredients:

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

Cooking:

1. In a saucepan, mix the milk with the yolks and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Add ground nuts, mix well and remove from heat.
3. Pour the batter into an oiled dish and let cool.
4. Roll into balls, roll them in sugar crumbs and garnish with nuts.

"Drunken Pear" (Pêra Bebada)

Local variation familiar to us baked apples– simple, tasty, spicy and drunk. Nobody will remain indifferent.

Ingredients:

• Red dry wine- 750 ml;
• Orange juice - 250 ml;
• Sugar - 200 grams;
• Cinnamon - 1 tsp;
• Pears - 8 pcs.

Cooking:

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

1. Peel the pears and put in a saucepan, top with sugar, cinnamon and pour wine and orange juice. You can also add a drop of port wine to the syrup for flavor.
2. Boil over medium heat for about an hour - the pears will become soft, but they should not boil soft, 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 the Portuguese is like grandma's jam for Russian. Sweet and melting in the mouth delicacy with the indispensable aroma of cinnamon and lemon ends every meal in the restaurants of the country.

Ingredients:

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

Cooking:

1. For this dessert, you need to take arborio rice or other round-grain rice. Boil water, add rice and cook until half cooked.
2. Pour milk into saucepan non-stick coating, put the lemon zest, sugar and cinnamon, bring to a boil. By this time, the rice should absorb water.
3. Carefully, stirring constantly, pour the hot milk with spices into the pan with rice. Simmer over low heat for about twenty minutes until the rice is quite soft. Remove from heat, remove zest and cinnamon, and cool slightly.
4. Grind the yolk with butter at room temperature and add to the finished rice. Mix thoroughly, spread out in forms.
5. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for ten minutes.
6. Cool down. 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 no lemon zest), à moda de Coimbra (no eggs), à Moda de Oliveira do Hospital (no eggs and no lemon), Saloio (with big amount yolks).

Almond

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

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