week EleveN: Olive oil cookies

Back home we use olive oil every time we cook. I guess it never crosses our minds to use any different source of fat. However, using olive oil to bake still seems a bit unusual.
These olive oil cookies are a typical recipe from my grandparents little village, right in the boarder with Spain. People use to make them as a gift for guests in weedings. They taste like countryside! The olive oil bitterness and sweet smell blends perfectly with sugar. The cookies are crunchy outside and they crumble in our mouth as we taste them.

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!

week SiX: Caramelized banana cake

Fun, fun, fun...
This cake is so much fun to bake.
First, we need to melt the sugar into caramel.
Second, there is the challenge of spreading the hot caramel in the baking pan.
Third, the ripen banana slices need to cover the entire baking pan. And this is a fight against the Law of Gravity.
And finally, the cake is out of the oven totally covered in banana!!!
I like to think of this cake as the Portuguese version of the American banana bread.

week FivE: Areias

'areias. the sands of the pacific -- this is how i will remember them. such a delicate cookie traveled 2,000 miles, with love. love from the baker's hands, to carefully shape the treats, pack them up, send them off. love for the simple sweet smell of cinnamon. love for the moist crumble, collapsing in my mouth. and love for the little bit of comfort these cookies offered. warmth and familiarity and happiness.'

by kb /invited blogger  #1/

week FouR: Chocolate Salami

 Dear chocolate salami,

You are made of eggs, sugar, biscuit and of course delicious chocolate.

So easy to prepare and yet you are so special.
You've been present in all birthday parties of our childhood. During adulthood, we still secretly wish to have your presence in all parties!
A thousand thanks for always been uncomplicated and comforting,

sonhos

AnnouncemenT

 sOnhOs will be there...with some sweet surprises to the ones who dare dreaming.

week ThreE: Almendrados

First the shell, then a rough skin and finally the almond. Three layers to reach the nut! How many layers of memories can we associate with almonds?
1. almond blossom trees that cover the mountains in white and pink for just a couple of days. 2. bags and bags of almonds that appear at portguese houses every winter. 3. delicate bags offered to friends - such a simple present. 4. a long list of sweet flavors and nutty aromas that can be cooked with this nut.
And here, for you. A perfect cookie with an almond on top!