Alcácer do Sal Pine-Nut Cakes

Bolos de Pinhão from Alcácer do Sal are small dry confections made almost entirely from shelled Mediterranean stone-pine nuts and sugar. Despite the word bolo, they contain no cake batter: whole pine nuts cook with sugar and water until the syrup reaches the proper stage, then spoonfuls are shaped into small round mounds on thin edible wafer and left to set. They are pale and glossy, with the nuts clearly visible above a delicate white base.

They are distinct from Alcácer's pinhoada. Traditional pinhoada uses honey and forms a brown slab cut into diamonds; these sweets use sugar syrup, remain as individual rounds and sit on wafer.