Montemor Pine-Cone Cakes

Also known as: Montemor Pine-Cone Cakes

A pine-cone relief biscuit baked in iron moulds and filled with lemon-scented egg sweet.

Origin: Montemor-o-Velho · Coimbra
Region: Montemor-o-Velho · Coimbra
Season: Year-round

Sweetness

Richness

Difficulty

Pinhas de Montemor are small cakes moulded as closed pine cones. A crisp shell of flour, butter, lemon and cinnamon carries a strongly embossed scale pattern; inside is a thick filling of eggs, sugar, water and lemon peel.

The cast-iron moulds, made from a real pine cone, work in male-and-female pairs and enter the oven vertically in a tube rack. The high heat leaves the surface golden and the tips more deeply toasted.

Ingredients

wheat flour
butter
lemon zest
cinnamon
water
sugar
eggs
lemon peel

Taste & texture

A buttery crisp shell with restrained cinnamon around dense, lemon-scented egg sweet.

Variations

They come in standard, medium and miniature sizes; the mould always preserves the closed-pine-cone relief.

Where to try it

From the Fernão Mendes Pinto Association at A Cadeia Velha and from cafés and pastry shops distributing the product in Montemor-o-Velho and the surrounding region.

Pairs well with

Black tea, coffee or walnut liqueur.

History

The Fernão Mendes Pinto Association created the sweet after Montemor's Espiga Doce, a speciality dating from the mid-twentieth century. Registration was completed in 1997 and the patent dates from November 1998.

Exclusive production by the association helps fund its social mission. The pine cones are made at the A Cadeia Velha property and distributed in three sizes—standard, medium and miniature—through cafés and pastry shops around the region.

Sources: visitarganil.pt · festivalarrozlampreia.pt · defesa.gov.pt

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