Cruz Alta Pastry
Also known as: Cruz Alta Pastry · Cruz Alta Pastries
Crisp puff pastry around egg cream, almond and white bean.
- Origin
- Sintra town · Sintra Mountains
- Region
- Sintra town · Sintra Mountains
- Season
- Year-round, subject to availability
Pastel da Cruz Alta is a small, round and low pastry made from puff pastry around a dense filling of egg cream, almond and white bean. Its top forms a smooth toasted disc; golden laminated layers show around the side, while a cut pastry reveals a moist, pale-yellow, almost creamy centre.
The combination brings together two old families of Portuguese confectionery: yolk-filled laminated pastries and sweets in which white bean supplies body without dominating the flavour. Almond adds fragrance and a fine texture, while the outer pastry provides a dry, brittle contrast.
- puff pastry
- egg cream
- almond
- white bean
- sugar
- milk
Sweet and rich, led by yolk and almond, with a soft almost imperceptible bean filling and dry, buttery, crisp puff pastry.
Casa Piriquita keeps the details of its commercial formula private. Its documented identity nevertheless rests on three consistent elements: a small round form, a puff-pastry case and egg cream with almond and white bean.
At Casa Piriquita's shops in Sintra town, where the pastry forms part of the house range and is sold by the box. Check availability, especially before making a special trip.
Espresso or black tea, whose bitterness balances yolk, almond and rich puff pastry.
Casa Piriquita identifies Pastel da Cruz Alta as one of its house specialities. Its name honours Cruz Alta, the highest point in the Sintra Mountains, directly linking the pastry to the landscape above the town.
Its local importance extends beyond one bakery. Sintra's Municipal Regulations for the Annual Confectionery Festival expressly include Pastéis da Cruz Alta in the municipality's canon of recognized traditional sweets, alongside queijadas, travesseiros and other Sintra specialities.
Sources: diariodarepublica.pt · piriquita.pt · piriquita.pt
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