Vila Real Viuvinhas — Transcription Attributed to Maria Odette Cortes Valente
The local Escarpas do Corgo archive published this formula as an edited and adapted text from Maria Odette Cortes Valente’s Cozinha de Portugal — Trás-os-Montes. It uses 300 g / 10.6 oz flour, 40 g / 1.4 oz butter and 100 ml / 3.4 fl oz water in pastry stretched paper-thin, with an almond-and-egg filling. The source gives no yield, circle diameter, resting time, salt and laminating-butter quantities, oven temperature or exact baking duration; those limits remain explicit.
- Yields
- Not stated; depends on circle diameter, which the source does not publish
- Prep
- Not stated; includes dough resting and complete filling cooling with no published durations
- Cook
- Unstated stovetop time for the filling and an unquantified ‘very quick’ bake in a ‘medium’ oven
Ingredients
- 300 g / 10.6 oz Wheat flour for the pastry
- 100 ml / 3.4 fl oz Warm water for the pastry
- 40 g / 1.4 oz Melted butter for the pastry
- as needed; amount not stated Salt
- as needed; amount not stated Melted butter for the hands and layered pastry
- as needed; amount not stated Flour for dusting the trays
- 400 g / 14.1 oz Sugar for the filling
- 200 g / 7.1 oz, as stated by the source Water for the filling
- 100 g / 3.5 oz Blanched, ground almond kernels
- 18 Egg yolks
- 4 Egg whites
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- as needed; amount not stated Icing sugar for finishing
Method
Place the 300 g / 10.6 oz flour in a mixing bowl and make a well. Add the 40 g / 1.4 oz melted butter and 100 ml / 3.4 fl oz warm water seasoned with salt. Knead thoroughly until the dough releases from the bowl.
Form a ball and let it rest under a warm bowl. The source says only ‘for a while’ and publishes neither a duration nor a temperature for the bowl.
For the filling, heat the 400 g / 14.1 oz sugar, 200 g / 7.1 oz water and cinnamon stick. Cook to weak pearl stage; the source gives no temperature, test or duration. Remove the cinnamon, add the blanched ground almonds and boil ‘a little’, with no duration stated.
Remove from the heat and let it become lukewarm. Beat the 18 yolks and four whites beforehand—the source does not say whether together or for how long—and incorporate them. Return to the heat, stirring continuously, until the eggs are cooked. The source publishes no temperature, duration or final-stage test. Let the filling cool completely before use.
With buttered hands, take small pieces of dough. Roll each one very thin and then stretch it carefully by hand without tearing until it is paper-thin.
Cut circles; no diameter is stated. Brush them with melted butter and stack them in pairs. Place one dessert spoonful of cold filling on each pair, fold in half and turn the tips upward to form a frill.
Place on flour-dusted trays and bake in a ‘medium’ oven. The source says baking is ‘very quick’ but publishes no temperature, minutes or doneness cue; monitor continuously and do not present an experimental value as traditional.
Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar. The source gives no cooling interval, yield or storage guidance.
Sources for this recipe
The quantities and method were checked against the references below. Family recipes may vary; where no single official formula exists, we present a representative practical version and say so plainly.
Read the editorial policy →
