Desserts

If you have ever been to a Portuguese festa, you know farturas by smell before sight: long ribbons of choux-style...

Malassadas are the Azores’ gift to the fried-dough hall of fame: pillowy rounds of rich egg dough, fried golden and...

Queijadas de nata are the quieter cousins of the world-famous pastéis de nata: same buttery pastry instincts, but with a...

Coscorões belong to the fried-dough trinity of the Portuguese Christmas — alongside filhós and rabanadas — and in my family...

No Portuguese Christmas table is complete without aletria: fine vermicelli cooked in sweet, lemon-and-cinnamon milk until it becomes a creamy...

Queijadas de Sintra are proof that Portuguese pastry genius is not limited to the pastéis de nata: these little cheese...

Besitos de coco — “little coconut kisses” — are the most charming cookies I know: crisp at the edges, soft...

Nuegados de yuca are El Salvador’s irresistible Easter fritters: grated cassava and cheese fried into crisp-outside, chewy-inside bites, then drowned...

Folar da Páscoa is the sweet bread that means Easter in Portugal: soft, fragrant with cinnamon and orange, and traditionally...

Bolos lêvedos are soft, slightly sweet Portuguese muffins from the Azores, cooked on a griddle until golden — think of...