Dona Amélia Queijadas
Also known as: Donas Amélias · D. Amélias · Bolo das Índias · Indianos
The dark, spiced sweet the ladies of Angra offered to a queen.
- Origin
- 1901 · Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island (Azores)
- Region
- Angra do Heroísmo
- Season
- Year-round
Queijadas Dona Amélia are small, dense, dark cakes from Terceira Island, their copper-brown colour coming from cane molasses and spices. Despite what the name suggests, they contain no cheese: the designation queijada refers only to the low, rounded shape, baked in fluted paper cases and dusted with icing sugar just before the oven door closes.
The crumb is moist and compact, studded with raisins and small pieces of candied citron, with a warm aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg that fills the kitchen. They are eaten at room temperature, individually and the size of a pastel, and keep well — they taste even better the following day, once the spices have settled.
They are served at breakfast, at afternoon tea or as a travel gift, usually in boxes of six, and are a fixture in every bakery and grocer's on Terceira.
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Cane molasses (cane honey)
- Butter
- Corn flour
- Wheat flour
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Raisins
- Candied citron
- Lemon zest
Sweet and deeply spiced, with cane molasses lending a dark, almost treacly base, balanced by the tang of raisins and candied citron. The texture is moist and dense — closer to a spiced cake than a creamy custard tart.
They come as the common individual queijada and also as a larger cake to be sliced. The balance of molasses, spice and dried fruit shifts from one pastelaria to another, with some leaning heavier on cinnamon or adding a splash of spirit.
Try them at any café or pastelaria on Terceira, above all in Angra do Heroísmo; the pastelaria O Forno in central Angra is a regular reference. They are also sold in boxes of six in Azorean grocers and by mail order.
They call for a strong espresso or a cup of Azorean tea; later in the day, they pair well with a glass of passion-fruit liqueur or Pico wine.
The name was born in 1901, when King D. Carlos and Queen D. Amélia visited Terceira Island. In honour of the queen, the ladies of Angra do Heroísmo presented her with these sweets, which have borne her name ever since. The recipe, however, is older: it adapts the so-called Bolo das Índias (also known as Indianos), a cake from the Age of Discovery made with the spices that arrived along the maritime routes from the East.
Angra, an Atlantic stopover port and a city classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was a natural passage for those spices — hence the cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruit that give these small cakes their character. From the large cake to the individual queijada, the sweet has endured to this day as one of Terceira's most emblematic confections.
Sources: byacores.com · byacores.com · azoresgetaways.com · saltofportugal.com · viajecomigo.com
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