Folhados de Tavira

Description: They are rounded puff pastry cakes, made with flour, margarine, lard and eggs. Once cooked, they are coated in sugar and wrapped in cellophane. They have a diameter of 10 cm, a height of 7 to 8 cm and weigh between 90 and 100 g.

Region: Algarve.

Particularity: Round cakes, with rolled puff pastry.

History: The current recipe has been transmitted through generations of the Dias family, currently the owner of Pastelaria Gardy, in Faro, where they continue to manufacture the cakes that were previously only sold in Tavira, at Café Cunha, founded at the beginning of the century and which no longer exists. It was the owner herself who made them and the name of Folhados de Tavira was given to the cakes by the café's regular customers. It is said, by oral tradition, that it is a recipe created in the convent of the nuns installed in Largo da Atalaia, in Tavira, in 1509 and extinct in 1862. Originally they were called Puff Pastries, later being called Puff Pastries of Tavira.

Use: Eaten at any time of the day, as a treat.

Know-how: They are made with puff pastry that is cut into strips and rolled up on a chopstick to form the cake. They are baked in the oven and then passed through sugar syrup.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001