Friends of Peniche
Also known as: Amigo de Peniche · Penichenses
The sweet named after friends you should not trust.
- Origin
- 20th century · Peniche, Oeste — convent-style pastry built on the bean tart tradition
- Region
- Peniche
- Season
- Year-round
Amigos de Peniche are small pastries of thin, crisp pastry, lined in individual moulds and filled with a golden cream of sugar, eggs and almond. Close cousins of the pastel de feijão, they are set apart by the prominent presence of almond, which gives them body and a toasted fragrance.
Individual in size, they have a lightly caramelised surface and a soft, almost melting interior. They are usually sold wrapped in paper, singly or in boxes of six — often accompanied by a printed sheet recounting the origin of the expression that gives them their name.
They are eaten by hand, at the end of a meal or in the mid-afternoon with a coffee, and serve as an edible postcard from Peniche, the fishing town on the western coast where almond found its way, through a curious migration of skills, into the heart of local confectionery.
- Almonds
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Flour
- Butter
- Lemon zest
- Cinnamon
- Icing sugar
Sweet and nutty, the thin, crisp pastry contrasting with a soft, melting filling of egg yolk and almond; a caramelised top and a hint of lemon and cinnamon temper the richness.
The best-known variant is the Penichense, a tartlet with a crisp sugar crust made by Pastelaria Roma. The almond sets them apart from the Torres Vedras bean tart, and in Peniche they share the counter with esses and fried pastéis de Peniche.
You will find them in Peniche's pastry shops — Brismar and Roma are among those most associated with the sweet — and in town restaurants such as Estelas and Nau dos Corvos. Look for them wrapped in paper or in boxes of six.
A full coffee or a short espresso cuts the sweetness; for a more festive finish, pair with a glass of moscatel or Port.
The name comes not from the kitchen but from history. The expression "amigos de Peniche" means, in Portuguese, false friends — allies who cannot be trusted. Its origin reaches back to 1589, when English troops landed at Praia da Consolação, in Peniche, ostensibly to support the cause of Dom António, Prior of Crato, against Philip II of Spain; on their way to Lisbon, however, they plundered and pillaged the settlements they passed through, betraying the trust placed in them. The people of Peniche were, unjustly, left associated with the idea of treachery.
The sweet itself is considerably more recent than the legend. It emerged in local confectionery over the course of the 20th century, initially made at home by a handful of women of the town; one of them is said to have opened the Pastelaria Resgate, one of Peniche's first bakeries. The Amigos de Peniche brand was later maintained by Pastelaria Brismar, while the variant known as Penichenses came to be made by Pastelaria Roma. The bakeries include the story of the expression on their packaging, restoring good name to the town through the medium of the sweet.
Sources: pt.wikipedia.org · virgiliogomes.com · pastelariasroma.pt · cm-peniche.pt
Pastries from here — The West
Portuguese icon Areias Brancas
Egg yolk and almond in a small golden pudding dusted with sugar.
The West
Portuguese icon Arroubo Grape-Must Preserve
Grape must and fruit slowly reduced without a grain of added sugar.
The West
Portuguese icon Cavacas das Caldas
Hollow, crackly shells dressed in glossy white sugar.
The West
Portuguese icon Friar João's Delights
The ripe fruit of the Oeste sealed in sugar, with walnuts to crackle.
The West