https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog Portuguese pastry, pastel de nata and recipes, by the Wooly Pâtisserie team. en Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:34:50 +0200 https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-do-caco-madeira-bread-basalt-stone https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-do-caco-madeira-bread-basalt-stone Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:06:07 +0200 Cooked on basalt stone, made with sweet potato when wheat ran short: the story of Madeira's bolo do caco, told by Wooly, Portuguese bakery in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/castanhas-assadas-lisbon-smoke-autumn https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/castanhas-assadas-lisbon-smoke-autumn Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:07:16 +0200 Quentes e boas! Lisbon's roasted chestnut sellers, their white smoke and their paper cones. An autumn ritual, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/arrufada-coimbra-sweet-bread-engagement https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/arrufada-coimbra-sweet-bread-engagement Sat, 26 Sep 2026 08:09:54 +0200 Risen for 24 hours under a blanket, sold from baskets at Coimbra station, the arrufada sealed engagements. Its story, by Wooly, Portuguese bakery in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-levedo-furnas-bread-nobody-knows-age https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-levedo-furnas-bread-nobody-knows-age Fri, 25 Sep 2026 08:04:52 +0200 Cooked on a griddle in the Furnas valley, Azores, the bolo lêvedo has three ages depending on who tells it. Its story, by Wooly, Portuguese bakery in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/cristas-de-galo-vila-real-lost-convent https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/cristas-de-galo-vila-real-lost-convent Thu, 24 Sep 2026 08:04:02 +0200 An almond, cinnamon and egg yolk turnover born with the Poor Clares of Vila Real in 1602. Its story, told by Wooly, Portuguese pastry shop in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/trouxas-de-ovos-caldas-da-rainha-egg-bundle https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/trouxas-de-ovos-caldas-da-rainha-egg-bundle Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:52:18 +0200 Egg sheets poached in syrup and rolled like a bundle: the story of the trouxas de ovos of Caldas da Rainha, told from our pastry shops in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pastel-de-bacalhau-salt-cod-two-spoons https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pastel-de-bacalhau-salt-cod-two-spoons Mon, 21 Sep 2026 07:53:25 +0200 In short: The pastel de bacalhau is a Portuguese croquette of salted, dried cod, potato and parsley, shaped between two spoons and fried, which gives it three ridges. The cod comes from the North Atlantic: Newfoundland, Iceland or Norway. Wooly Pâtisserie sells it at €3.90 each. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pastel-de-vouzela-secret-recipe-beira-alta https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pastel-de-vouzela-secret-recipe-beira-alta Sun, 20 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0200 Paper-thin pastry, egg cream, icing sugar: the pastel de Vouzela has kept its recipe secret since the 1800s. Its story, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-de-mel-madeira-broken-by-hand https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-de-mel-madeira-broken-by-hand Sat, 19 Sep 2026 07:52:57 +0200 Dark, spiced, baked on 8 December to be ready for Christmas and broken by hand: Madeira's bolo de mel and its cane honey, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pinhoada-alcacer-do-sal-honey-pine-nuts https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pinhoada-alcacer-do-sal-honey-pine-nuts Fri, 18 Sep 2026 07:53:01 +0200 Pinhoada, a honey and pine nut diamond from Alcácer do Sal, sold to travellers across southern Portugal. Its story, told from our shops in Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/batata-doce-aljezur-legend-three-centuries-early https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/batata-doce-aljezur-legend-three-centuries-early Thu, 17 Sep 2026 07:59:36 +0200 A root from the Costa Vicentina, a legend from 1249 that cannot be true, and the doçaria of the Algarve. A Portuguese story told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/malassada-azores-carnival-hawaii-emigration https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/malassada-azores-carnival-hawaii-emigration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 07:58:57 +0200 The malassada, Portugal's Shrove Tuesday doughnut, crossed the Pacific with Azorean emigrants and became Hawaiian. Told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/portokali-orange-named-after-portugal https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/portokali-orange-named-after-portugal Tue, 15 Sep 2026 07:57:23 +0200 In Athens, Istanbul or Bucharest, an orange is called "Portugal". The story of a fruit that came by sea, told from our shops in Brussels and Waterloo. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/castanhas-de-ovos-viseu-egg-yolk-chestnuts https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/castanhas-de-ovos-viseu-egg-yolk-chestnuts Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:09:24 +0200 They have the shape and colour of an autumn chestnut, yet not a gram of chestnut: the story of the castanhas de ovos of Viseu, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pao-de-rala-evora-convent-fake-bread https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pao-de-rala-evora-convent-fake-bread Sun, 13 Sep 2026 07:56:02 +0200 Round and floured, it looks just like bread: Évora's pão de rala hides almond, fios de ovos and doce de gila. Its story, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pera-rocha-pear-sintra-1836 https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/pera-rocha-pear-sintra-1836 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 10:06:13 +0200 In 1836 an unknown pear tree grew on a farm in Sintra. Every Rocha pear in Portugal descends from it. The story, and the cinnamon, from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/flagey-portuguese-pastry-brussels-emigration https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/flagey-portuguese-pastry-brussels-emigration Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:57:37 +0200 In short: Portuguese pastry reached Brussels with the emigration of the 1960s. The community first settled in Saint-Gilles in the 1970s and 1980s, then in Ixelles, around Place Flagey. The Associação dos Portugueses Emigrados na Bélgica, founded in 1966 and official since 1968, is the oldest Portuguese association in Belgium. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-dona-amelia-spices-angra-terceira https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/bolo-dona-amelia-spices-angra-terceira Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:14:42 +0200 On the island of Terceira, a cake of maize and molasses caught the spices of the India Route. The full story of a doce, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/madeira-sugar-route-funchal-bruges https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/madeira-sugar-route-funchal-bruges Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:59:12 +0200 In the 15th century Madeira sugar sailed to Bruges and Antwerp and came back as Flemish painting. The route behind Portuguese pastry, told from Brussels. https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/fatias-de-tomar-pan-with-chimney https://www.woolypatisserie.com/en/blog/fatias-de-tomar-pan-with-chimney Tue, 08 Sep 2026 07:58:04 +0200 Egg yolks whisked for an hour, cooked in a pan with a chimney: fatias de Tomar, a Portuguese convent sweet, told from Brussels.