Monday, June 20 Kitchen Mess | Sintra's Pie

Truth be told, when my father said the ingredients that this takes I thought to myself "that doesn't sound good, it's probably going to rubbish", only because I was not familiarized with the mixture, but what a fool I was for thinking that!

I remember when I was little and every time we went to Sintra we ate little things called Queijadas de Sintra and we loved it so much. At first I didn't know the name of the recipe, but when I first took a bite all the memories from Sintra came back to me, the taste was almost the same and it was delicious.

Since I enjoyed the pie (a lot) that I made with my father, I would love for you to try it as well, alone or with your dad as well!

You'll need:
2 Fresh Cheese, 100g All Purpose Flour, 250g Caster Sugar, 4 Egg Yolk, 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon, 1 package of Shortcrust Pastry

Preparation:
First of all, preheat your oven at 160ºC. Then, lay the pastry in a form for pies with the paper that comes with - I bought mine because it's easier, but you can make it from scratch and add the grease proof paper - and poke some holes in the bottom with a fork.
For the filling you start by mixing the fresh cheese with the egg yolks, until it's a smooth consistency, then add the caster sugar and mix. You'll have to mix very well between each thing that it's added. Finally add the sifted flour and cinnamon (if you don't think that's a good amount of cinnamon you can add a little bit more) and mix it.
When all the mixing is done it's time to pour it to the tray with the pastry and put it in the oven for 45 minutes. I think I left a little longer, but 45 minutes is a good time to take a look, if the edges os the pastry are not as wish them to be (golden) you can let it stay for a little longer but not to long.

Hope you enjoy making it as I did and I swear, it's one of the best things you will taste from my country!

Tuesday, March 8 Kitchen Mess | Water Cake

Just wait, I know this probably has a weird name for you. As you know, translating things from Portuguese to English doesn't always turn up alright, but that's it's the name of the cake I'm sharing with you today!

As the name suggests the cake is supposed to be made with water, but me and my mom always do with milk, but this time we tried something new and I must say that turned out very good.

You'll need:
4 eggs, 3 cups of white sugar, 1 cup of cream (or water, if you wan't to try this way), 3 cups of all purpose flour, dash of vanilla extract, dash of lemon zest, 1 tea spoon of yeast.

Preparation:
So, instead of using water we are going to use cream, but you can always try how it turns out with water.
Start by separating the yolks from the whites, hand put the whites aside. Then add the sugar to the yolks and beat it until it's all combined (if you think 3 cups of sugar is too much you can always take a lit bit, I always do that).When it's all mixed in start adding the cream, the lemon zest and the dash of vanilla and mix in, after that add the flour in stages so it doesn't create lumps.
Now back to the whites, we have to beat them until they form peaks, when that happens it means that is on point, and then you can add that to your previous mixture, mix in very carefully!
Last thing, and the most important: put in the oven and bake the cake. I'll recommend at 170ºC and keep an eye, I don't usually use a determined time, I only check the cake every ten minutes.

Hope you enjoy, and if you try it let me know int the comments.