A sweet treat on your walking holiday in Portugal
Belem is the historical quarter of Lisbon, a must see on your Portugal walking holiday, famous for its tower (seen as the symbolic entrance into Lisbon), the magnificent Hieronymites Monastery, the impressive maritime monument, a tribute to the Portuguese navigators and of course, the pasteis de Belem.
Let’s rewind to the 19th century, to the Hieronymites Monastery where the pastry first came about. The nuns thought up this delicious recipe using mainly sugar from the sugar canes from Madeira and Brazil and egg yolk, and then sold the pastry to a bakery just around the corner from the Monastery. There is a lot of egg yolk in traditional Portuguese deserts as the egg whites were used to make wafers or for starching clothes.
One of the highlights of a walking holiday in Portugal is the local cuisine and therefore, you simply cannot leave Lisbon without trying the pasteis de Belem. After a day of walking, there is nothing as rewarding as enjoying this typical Portuguese delicacy.
The best address in town
If you are wondering where to eat the best pasteis de Belem, then the answer is at the beautiful blue fronted cake shop not far from the monastery, opposite the bus and tram stop. You’ll now it’s the right one by the size of the queue out of the door! It may not look like much from the outside, but inside, you will discover an unusual and welcoming shop: The “Confetaria de Belem” is the place to go for a drink and a pasteis!
Our top tip: sprinkle cinnamon and icing sugar over the top of your pasteis. The still warm pastry will melt the sugar…. it’s mouth-watering just writing about it!
Once your belly is full of this delicious treat, you can visit the cake shop and admire the wonderful selection of sweet treats on show and watch the pastry chefs at work. Don’t forget to buy some pasteis de Belem for loved one’s back home, a great souvenir of your Portugal walking tour. They don’t take up too much room in the bag, just be careful not to squash them! The other challenge of course is back at your hotel, opening the bag and resisting the smell of these small pastries. If the temptation proves too much, however, you now know where to go to buy more!
Recipe for the pasteis de Belem : 
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
1 egg
500 ml of milk
20g of flour
250g of sugar
1 organic lemon
1 vanilla pod
1 pinch of salt
2 rolls of flaky pastry
Preparation time – 20 minutes
Cooking time – 10 minutes
- Heat the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla pod.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and pinch of salt.
- When the milk starts to boil, remove from the heat and take out the vanilla pod. Using a knife, scrape the vanilla grains into the milk and add your vanilla flavoured milk to the bowl with the flour mix.
- Add the 4 egg yolks, the egg & 2 spoons of lemon juice and mix well.
- Roll out the flaky pastry into small cake moulds and using a spoon, pour in the pasteis mixture.
- Pop into the pre heated oven (200°/thermostat 7) for 10 minutes.
Bom apetite!
