week TeN: Carob bread

As kids we always went camping to the Algarve during the summer. In some evenings we used to play bingo and used carob seeds to mark the numbers on the bingo cards. I've always wondered what those seeds were good for, as they weren't meant to serve as Bingo markers!
The Algarve is filled with carob trees and carob's characteristic smell spreads everywhere in early September.
When my sisters moved to the Algarve, they started to discover and telling me about all the great sweets can be baked using carob. One of such baked goodies is this Carob bread. It looks like is make of chocolate and is great to eat with guava jam.
Baking and eating this bread reminds me of my two sweet sisters.

week NinE: queijadinhas

queijo = cheese. queijadinhas = small cheese. what if I tell you that these little soft tarts have no cheese at all? That's true, no cheese! Instead, they are made with milk, and have a very smooth velvety texture! Resembles the texture of a soft cheese, probably the reason why they were baptized as so!

week EighT: sericaia

Sericaia is only one of the many examples of the famous portuguese conventual sweets from the XV century. These old recipes were well-kept secrets that only the nuns would know. As time went by, these recipes made their way out of the convents and nowadays they can be found in any good bakery, but still associated with the different portuguese regions. Their basis is common - eggs and sugar. The other ingredients are very diverse (almonds, pumpkin jam, cinnamon and many others) and reflect the wealth of flavors that characterize these sweets.

This sweet is known as sericaia and can be found in the south of Portugal. It is served with a plum jam, which with its bitterness balances out the sweetness of the glorious sericaia. Amen.

week SeveN: favos de mel

honeycombs.
antique ingredients. delicious recipe. the wisdom of centuries.
bees, nectar and flowers... and time!  the oldest symbol of sweetness - honey!
olive trees, mediterranean climate, ancient knowledge to extract the liquid gold - Olive oil.
From old times, through our hands, these genuine cookies. a symbol of gratitude. bake with love and history!