Disclaimer: We are Azoreans!
So, here at Easy Portuguese Recipes, we have a sweet tooth and love to share with you traditional recipes enjoyed for generations by our ancestors in the islands. Queijadas de Vila Franca is a traditional pastry refined by nuns in convents during the sixteen hundreds in the town of Vila Franca do Campo, island of S. Miguel. This is one of the most unique and delicious ways to make a queijada. Enjoy your Christmas by making some of these, and tell us what you think. We’re sure you’ll love it!
Ingredients:
2.5 cups of flour
9 egg yolks
1 egg white
1.5 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon of salt
8 cups milk
1 Full piece of Portuguese “Queijo Fresco” White fresh cheese – You can learn how to make the fresh cheese here
2.5 cups of sugar
Powdered sugar to finish
Parchment paper
Small pins
Directions:
1) Put the milk on a stove on low heat and add the fresh cheese broken into pieces, stir continuously until it is a smooth and even consistency, then turn off the heat. Cover the pan and let it curdle. Remove the curdle and dry it very well in a cloth until there’s no liquid left. Mold the curdle until it’s thin.
2) Add 6 egg yolks, 1 egg white, 1/2 tablespoon of the butter, 2.5 cups of the sugar and 1 tablespoon of the flour to the curdle and mix everything well. Pour it into a saucepan on low heat until it all starts to boil and then remove from the stove. Remove the liquid in a strainer and place it in the refrigerator.
3) On the next day, separately put the rest of the flour, the egg yolks, the butter, the sugar and a tablespoon of salt in a bowl with a bit of hot water and mix everything to mold the dough. Wrap it in a napkin. Then stretch it with a kitchen roll and a bit of flour.
4) Then, with a cup, cut the dough in circles and put them on an oven board. Then, put a ball of the previously made curdle in the refrigerator on each of these circles. Then pull the sides of the dough up to make a closed box. Wrap parchment paper around the sides of each cake and lock it with a small pin.
5) Put them in the oven at 350 °F and take them out after about 15-20 minutes or until they look done.
6) Then, remove the paper and sprinkle the queijadas with the powdered sugar. Serve.
