Do you know Sintra?
It’s near Lisbon…more or
less…
A beautiful and mysterious
town full of 19th century romantic architectural monuments,
mountains and nature parks.
It has been classificated
by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
If you go there, make sure
you visit the mediaeval Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of Moors), Palácio Nacional
da Pena (It’s Pena National Palace, but if you would like to know what really
means in Portuguese is Feather National Palace) and Palácio Nacional de Sintra
(Sintra National Palace).
One day I’m going to tell
you all about the Mountain of the Moon…
But now lets talk about
Portuguese pastry.
It’s one of the most
wonderful things we have.
In Sintra, you have a lot
of typical sweets, cakes and deserts.
Everyone who goes there
always try the Queijadas (cheesecake tarts) and the Travesseiros (which means
pillows, but in fact are an almond and egg cream filled puff pastry rectangle).
But, there is a not so
known cake in this town…
May I introduce you to
Fofos de Belas!
Belas, which means
beautifuls (we know the word doesn’t exist but imagine you have a lot of
beautiful ladys, in Portuguese we have the plural, so we say beautifuls) is
town located in the region of Sintra and Fofos (which means fluffys – yes,
plural again) are small sponge cakes, filled with cream and sprinkled with
sugar.
So, in fact, these are the
Fluffys of the Beautifuls!
(Shakespeare would have
hate us right now…)
They are made in a factory
that exists for four generations - Fábrica dos Fofos de Belas – managed by
Liberdade Fonseca.
The original name was
Fartos de Creme (full of cream) and were created by Liberdade’s mother, when
she decided to had cream to an already known Portuguese sponge cake – Pão de Ló
(Bread of Ló… we don’t know what Ló is but one day we’ll find out).
The recipe has remained
unchanged throughout the years, as well as the oven where they are cooked –
with its iron door.
And they are still divine!
Casa dos Fofos de Belas
(House of the Fluffys of the Beautifuls)