Pasteles de Belem, Portugal’s most typical sweet recipe

Total: 1 h 5 min Diners: 8

I like my Belem cakes because they are imperfectly perfect. You won’t see that they are even on top, they have bubbled slightly and the browning is uneven… but eating them was like being transported straight to Lisbon. To the best pastry shops in Lisbon, more like it. Cataplana, roast chickens, golden cod, francesinhas or cream cakes are icons of Portuguese gastronomy and cannot be missed in Spain’s neighboring country.

The history of Portugal’s most famous sweet is curious as well as mysterious. We all know that it is a puff pastry and cream tartlets that have a very particular flavor, but do you know its history and “dark secret”? According to legend, when the Portuguese Liberal Revolution took place in 1820, the country’s convents were forced to close and, therefore, stopped making the sweets so typical and demanded.

In view of this, a neighbor of the neighborhood of Belem, on the banks of the Tagus and right next to a sugar refinery, set up a small stall where he could sell some pastries that quickly became popular. It was 1834 and, without realizing it, he had created a business that, to this day, still has long lines every day.

Like all centuries-old products, the recipe for Belem cakes, Portugal’s most famous sweet, is somewhat mystical, as it is known only to a handful of people (six exactly: the three owners and the three pastry chefs who are in charge of making them every day) who would give their lives to protect it. And if it is not their life, it is a good amount of money because they are subject to a precise confidentiality contract.

In this small large bakery, 180 workers work daily to produce the 20,000 units of cakes that are sold every day. Inside this framework, there is a small closed kitchen, known as the “oficina do segredo”

the three confectioners make the dough that takes “sugar, milk and egg yolk”. So much for that.

Of course this type of confectionery is not only made in this factory. There are many Portuguese pastry shops that market it under the name of “pastel de nata” because it is even a registered trademark. We do not have an X-ray viewer and we can not know what is being cooked in that closed kitchen, but after trying and trying, we have achieved a tremendously satisfactory result that if it does not take you to the Belem factory, it gets you pretty close.

A very easy to make pastry and that, accompanied by coffee, is a wonderful way to get out of the pastry routine and delight your palate. In Madrid, you have some great bakeries to try them, but yes; always freshly made.

How to make Belem cakes

Ingredients

. Butter puff pastry, 1 sheet Whole milk, 200 ml Flour, 20 g Sugar, 250 g Water, 100 ml Egg yolks L, 4 pcs Cinnamon, 1/2 stick Lemon peel, 1 strip

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 250 ºC with heat up and down.

Step 2

First make the syrup by heating the sugar and water in a saucepan until it boils. Let it cook for about three minutes and set aside until it cools.

Step 3

Dissolve the flour in a little of the milk and put the rest of the milk in the pot until it boils, with the cinnamon and the lemon peel. When it comes to a boil, add the flour and milk mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until the mixture thickens well. Remove the cinnamon and lemon. Cool completely.

Step 4

Extend the puff pastry dough, sprinkle it lightly with a few drops of water so that it sticks well and roll it tightly on itself. Cut pieces about three centimeters thick and roll out each one with the help of a rolling pin and your fingers. Place each piece in the mold to make the base, as best as possible and all the way to the top.

Step 5

Add the egg yolks to the cold milk mixture and mix well. Add the syrup and do the same. Mix just enough so that everything comes together but does not foam.

Step 6

Fill the molds with the puff pastry up to 3/4 of their capacity and bake for about 12 minutes at maximum power in the oven, or until golden brown on top.

Step 7

Remove from the oven and splash lightly with ice water to stop cooking immediately. Let cool on a rack, when they are manageable unmold.