Brandy Biscuits
Crisp Santa Maria rings kneaded with eggs, rich fats and a glass of brandy.
- Origin
- Santa Maria Island · Azores
- Place
- Santa Maria Island
- Region
- The Azores
- Category
- Cakes & Sweet Breads
- Season
- Year-round
- Evidence
- Well documented
Santa Maria's Biscoitos de Aguardente are individual pieces stretched by hand and joined into rings before entering a very hot oven. Their dough combines flour, eggs, sugar, salt, butter, lard and brandy, with no added water.
Vigorous kneading, generous eggs and a glass of brandy give them an especially crisp texture and intense aroma. On the island they are also popularly known as cagarrinhos.
- flour
- eggs
- sugar
- butter
- lard
- brandy
- salt
Dry and very crisp, rich in egg and fat, with brandy's warm fragrance.
Ring size and opening vary according to the portion of dough and how its ends are joined. The name cagarrinhos is ambiguous: the DGADR record applies it to these biscuits, while the Azorean Encyclopaedia associates it with ear biscuits. Check the shape and ingredients when only that name is given.
On Santa Maria Island, in local-product shops, grocers and craft outlets.
Coffee, tea or an Azorean liqueur.
They are a Santa Maria Island speciality available throughout the year in food and craft shops. The alternative name cagarrinhos refers to the Cory's shearwater, a seabird deeply tied to the island's landscape and food memory. The Regional Directorate for Culture's Azorean Encyclopaedia independently inventories brandy biscuits among Santa Maria's traditional sweets, listing them separately from ear biscuits in the same account.
Well documented
Identity supported by institutional, specialist or corroborating sources.
- tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt/pt/cat/doces-e-produtos-de-pastelaria/692-biscoitos-de-aguardente (opens in a new tab)
- culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ea/pesquisa/default.aspx (opens in a new tab)
- santamariaazores.net/web/biscoitos-de-aguardente/receitas/ (opens in a new tab)
- exploresantamaria.pt/gastronomia-docaria-e-outros-produtos/ (opens in a new tab)
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