Queijadas de Sintra Recipe

Queijadas de Sintra are sweet traditional Portuguese pastries with a rich history from the town of Sintra. These desserts are made with a thin crisp crust and a filling of fresh cheese (quejio fresco), eggs, flour, sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Queijadas are best served with a cup of coffee or espresso. If you can’t make it to Sintra to try one, scroll to the bottom for a great recipe that will hold you over.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Portuguese Cheese Company. As always, all opinions are my own.

History of Queijadas de Sintra

Queijadas de Sintra are a piece of Portuguese culinary heritage. This delectable pastry is one of Sintra’s oldest desserts, dating back to the 13th century. Up until the mid-18th century, the people of Sintra used queijadas as a form of payment to royalty. It wasn’t until 1756 that these queijadas were commercialized by Maria Sapa. Queijadas da Sapa still stands in Sintra and continues to be a hot spot for locals and tourists to try these delicious pastries.

The Portuguese Cheese Company

We are happy to team up with the Portuguese Cheese Company for this recipe. The Portuguese Cheese Company which was founded in 1966 is the only Portuguese cheese manufacturer in Canada. They combine traditional cheese recipes with local Canadian ingredients in order to produce fresh, soft, and firm cheeses. I am an avid fan of their Serra cheese, buying it for over a decade now. My parents always have a new Queijo Fresco in their fridge whenever I go over.

For this recipe, we used St. John’s fresh cow cheese.

Wondering where you can buy St. John’s fresh cheese or other Portuguese Cheese Company cheeses? Visit their storefront at 4 Buckingham St., Toronto ON, or click here to find a grocery store near you.

Tools I recommend

• Food Scale: This recipe requires a food scale as many measurements are in grams.
• Muffin Tin: If you don’t have two already, I recommend two 12-cup muffin tins. This will allow you to bake all 24 at once and prevent the filling from resting.
• Hand Blender or Food Processor: You will need one of these two tools to smooth out the fresh cheese.
• Rolling Pin or Pasta Machine: To help you get that paper-thin crust.

Ingredients You need

Crust

• All Purpose Flour
• Melted Butter
• Warm Water
• A pinch of Salt

Filling

• Portuguese Cheese Company St. John’s Fresh Cheese
• Sugar
• Egg Yolks
• Melted Butter
• All Purpose Flour
• Cinnamon

How to Make Queijadas de Sintra

Preparing the Crust:

Place the flour on a counter, creating a well in the center. Add the warm water, melted butter, and salt into the well.

Using a fork, stir from the inside out until the liquid is fully mixed into the flour.

Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and no longer sticks to your hands.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and a damp cloth, then let it rest for 12 hours or overnight.

After 12 hours, place the dough on a floured surface. Roll it out thinly with a rolling pin or a pasta machine if you have one, adding flour as needed. The dough should be thin enough to see your fingers through it.

Use a cookie cutter (about 8 cm Ø) to cut circles, then make four cuts around the edges of each circle with a knife.

Place the circles in muffin tins (about 5 cm Ø), overlapping the cuts.

Preparing the Filling:

Once molds are formed, preheat oven to 365ºF.

With your hands or a cheesecloth, squeeze the St. John’s fresh cheese to remove any excess moisture.

Using a hand mixer or food processor, blend the cheese until it becomes smooth and has the consistency of soft ricotta.

Add the sugar, cinnamon, egg yolks, flour, and melted butter to the cheese mixture. Whisk until everything is well combined.

Immediately pour the filling into the prepared molds and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-27 minutes, or until edges begin to golden. Check around the 20-minute mark.

Remove from oven. Allow the pastries to cool before removing them from the tins.

Why wait 12 Hours for the Crust?

Letting the dough rest for 12 hours allows the gluten to develop and rest. This makes the dough a lot easier to work with, especially since it has to be rolled out thin. I recommend when rolling out the dough to divide it into two beforehand. This allows you to work with less dough making it easier to roll out paper-thin. Try to cut out all 24 circles without having to reroll the dough. Although possible, you will find that the dough becomes increasingly difficult to work with.

How to store Them

We recommend eating queijadas the first day you make them once they’ve cooled. This is when the crust is the most crisp. If you can’t eat all 24 queijadas, I recommend storing them in an airtight container.

Here’s a quick walkthrough video

Queijadas de Sintra

Queijadas are a Portuguese pastry from the town of Sintra. These pastries are typically made with fresh cheese, egg yolks, sugar, flour, and butter. This dessert has a thin, crunchy crust and a sweet filling.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 12 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Portuguese

Servings 24 Queijadas

Equipment

• Food Scale
• Muffin Tins
• Blender or Food Processor
• Rolling Pin or Pasta Machine

Ingredients

  

Crust

• 250 grams Flour All Purpose
• 1 tbsp Butter melted
• ½ cup Warm Water
• 1 pinch Salt

Filling

• 320 grams St. John's Fresh Cheese
• 160 grams Sugar
• 8 Egg Yolks
• 80 grams Butter melted
• 1 ½ tbsp Flour All Purpose
• ½ tbsp Cinnamon

Instructions

 

Crust

• Place the flour on a counter, creating a well in the center. Add the warm water, melted butter, and salt into the well.
• Using a fork, stir from the inside out until the liquid is fully mixed into the flour.
• Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and no longer sticks to your hands.
• Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and a damp cloth, then let it rest for 12 hours or overnight.
• After 12 hours, place the dough on a floured surface. Roll it out thinly with a rolling pin or a pasta machine if you have one, adding flour as needed. The dough should be thin enough to see your fingers through it.
• Use a cookie cutter (about 8 cm Ø) to cut circles, then make four cuts around the edges of each circle with a knife.
• Place the circles in muffin tins (about 5 cm Ø), overlapping the cuts.

Filling

• Preheat the oven to 365ºF.
• With your hands or a cheesecloth, squeeze the fresh cheese to remove any excess moisture.
• Using a hand mixer or food processor, blend the cheese until it becomes smooth and has the consistency of soft ricotta.
• Add the sugar, cinnamon, egg yolks, flour, and melted butter to the cheese mixture. Whisk until everything is well combined.
• Immediately pour the filling into the prepared molds and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-27 minutes, or until edges begin to golden. Check around the 20 minute mark.
• Remove from oven. Allow the pastries to cool before removing them from the tins.

Notes

Make sure to form molds before creating the filling. Leaving the filling to rest will cause cinnamon to separate and float to the top when baking.

Keyword Queijadas

We hope you enjoy this delectable pastry!

Enjoy,

Margaret

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