Exhibits A & B: Bolo de nozes (nut cake) and tarte de nata (cream pie).
I can’t take credit for these, except choosing them from the array of baked temptations on display at our local padaria. It does such brisk business that I hear the ovens are in operation around the clock. It’s the same bakery that makes my favorite pão com chouriço and torrada, the latter of which is bordering on an addiction when paired with a meia de leite.
I’ve said before that I’m not really into Portuguese desserts because they’re too sweet, but I have to eat those words today. I’m such a fan of nuts that the caramel you see atop the bolo de nozes doesn’t faze me and the cake has such a perfect texture that my taste buds have forgotten that they usually find cake uninteresting. The tarte de nata seems like an odd choice for me, too, except it has a pie crust instead of a pastry shell. I would choose a pie over a cake any day, but for some reason a fruit pie is exceptionally rare around Portugal — why?? there’s so much fruit here! — and this pastel de nata in a pie shell is the closest thing I can find to a regular pie.
At this point you might be wondering how living beside a bakery could be a bad thing. I can think of a couple of reasons that aren’t Exhibit A and Exhibit B, but if you’re good friends with a dentist and have incredible willpower to resist the display case every day, then my neighbourhood is perfect for you!
April 3, 2016
Album: Portugal [Spring 2016]
