Braga Remédios Convent Pastries
Also known as: Remédios Convent Pastries · Braga Remédios Pastries
A flower-like cup of paper-thin crisp pastry around a dark walnut-and-cinnamon heart.
- Origin
- Braga · Minho
- Place
- Braga
- Region
- The North
- Category
- Convent Sweets
- Season
- Year-round by order; historically associated with the feasts of Saint Benedict
- Evidence
- Well documented
The Pastéis dos Remédios made in Braga today resemble small pastry flowers. Irregular paper-thin sheets rise from the mould in brittle golden points, exposing a compact, moist, dark-brown centre of walnut, egg, sugar and cinnamon. Starch and flour bind the filling without hiding the nut's coarse texture.
Their appearance clearly distinguishes them from modern Viúvas de Braga, wrapped in paper and tied with ribbons, although both names share a history connected with the former Convent of Remédios. The version now sold was recovered by Doçaria Cruz de Pedra and features in convent-sweet tastings promoted by Braga's official tourism service.
- sugar
- eggs
- walnuts
- wheat flour
- starch
- cinnamon
- thin pastry for the wrapper
Rich and very sweet, with toasted walnut and cinnamon, a moist centre and a light wrapper that crackles when bitten.
The current speciality is associated with Cruz de Pedra's recovered recipe. Historical references to pastéis and viúvas show different sizes and names but do not allow every old formula to be reconstructed with certainty.
At Doçaria Cruz de Pedra in Braga, by order, and through official gastronomic experiences that include a Pastéis dos Remédios tasting.
Espresso, black tea or Braga's sweet sacramental wine.
Expense books from Tibães Monastery record purchases of “pastéis dos Remédios” from 1707 for the feasts of Saint Benedict. During the eighteenth century the name “viúvas dos Remédios” also appears, and historical research suggests the terms may have described versions or sizes within the same family of sweets. The tradition disappeared during the twentieth century. Doçaria Cruz de Pedra has since recovered a walnut Pastel dos Remédios, now recognised by Braga Municipality and its tourism service. This page therefore describes the documented contemporary speciality without claiming its formula is a literal copy of the eighteenth-century recipe.
Well documented
Identity supported by institutional, specialist or corroborating sources.
- reformaagraria.pt/loja-agricola/4899/pastel-dos-remedios/ (opens in a new tab)
- visitbraga.travel/en/highlights/experiencias-turisticas-b2b/historias-doces-pudim-e-convento-remedios/ (opens in a new tab)
- ucs.br/educs/arquivo/ebook/gastronomia-e-vinhos-contributos-para-o-desenvolvimento-sustentavel-do-turismo-estudos-de-caso-brasil-e-portugal/ (opens in a new tab)
- cm-braga.pt/archive/doc/Programa_Braga_Barroca_2017.pdf (opens in a new tab)
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