Barroso Honey Rabanadas

Rabanadas com Mel de Barroso turn thick slices of cacete bread into a hot, golden and intensely aromatic dessert. Slightly stale bread is softened, dipped in egg and fried until its edges are crisp; the local presentation uses small round or oval slices that retain a tender crumb.

The defining element is a syrup made with Mel de Barroso PDO, dark in colour and strongly shaped by heather from the highlands. Poured over the rabanadas while hot, it forms an amber glaze and pools on the plate, adding floral, resinous and faintly bitter notes that distinguish them from versions finished only with cinnamon sugar.