Graciosa Rice Pastries

Pastéis de Arroz da Graciosa are fine-pastry crescents baked without taking on much colour and finished with icing sugar. The name does not refer to mainland Portugal's familiar bakery rice cake: here, rice goes into the filling. It is cooked, puréed and combined with sugar syrup, almonds and egg yolks to make a dense, soft, gently textured centre.

Traditionally, the filling is prepared the day before so it can set. The next day, a dough of flour, butter, sugar and yolks is rolled very thin, filled with small portions of the cream and closed like a crescent turnover. The pastries bake only until the shell is firm and pale, after which they are carefully lifted from the tray and dusted.