All Saints Broas
Small cracked broas with almonds and an intense aniseed flavour.
- Origin
- Lisbon and Tagus Valley · All Saints season
- Region
- Lisbon and Tagus Valley
- Season
- All Saints through Easter; now also available at other times
Broas dos Santos are dry ball-shaped cakes about 3.5 centimetres across and twenty grams in weight. Their compact, crumbly dough is marked by deep cracks opened by the oven's heat.
Finely sliced almonds, yolks, flour and aniseed define their character. A hand-applied yolk glaze before baking gives them a golden-brown colour and small glossy patches.
- peeled sliced almonds
- egg yolks
- flour
- aniseed
- egg yolk for glazing
Dry, crumbly and highly aromatic, with dominant aniseed and small pieces of almond.
The quantity and composition of the aniseed are considered each maker's secret; the depth of the toasted yolk glaze varies too.
In Lisbon and Tagus Valley pastry shops, especially from November through Easter.
Black tea, coffee or fortified wine.
Traditionally they were made only for the All Saints season, from early November until Easter. Demand from Portuguese emigrants returning in summer eventually led many makers to produce them outside that calendar as well.
Sources: tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt
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