Queijadas de Sintra: Sintra Cheesecakes

Although I'm still kicking myself for not joining my boyfriend on his recent stay in Sintra, Portugal, I have been happily enjoying the culinary souvenirs he brought home. Among them were these local specialties called queijadas de Sintra, or Sintra cheesecakes. The ingredients are simple – sugar, cheese, flour, egg, and cinnamon – but their effect is intoxicating, and I've found myself craving more of these little cakes ever since I polished off the last one.

To an American audience, the term "cheesecakes" can be a bit misleading, as these are more more like custard-y tarts wrapped in pastry. Made with fresh cheese, they have a pronounced cinnamon flavor that reflects Portugal's Moorish past. The recipe, which reportedly dates back to the 13th or 14th century, is a closely-guarded secret. However, I have found a few approximations online and am eager to give them a try.

• Queijadas de Sintra, from Roteiro Gastronómico de Portugal (in Portuguese)
• Queijadas de Sintra, from The Age
• Queijadas de Sintra, from a comment on Chocolate & Zucchini

These queijadas have also sparked my interest in other Portuguese pastries. Do you have any favorites or recipe recommendations?

(Image: Tertúlia de Sabores, used by permission)

Comments (8)

I've traveled all around Europe, and the pastries in Sintra are by far the best I've ever had. Besides the Queijadas, I also ate some excellent meringues there. Also, the castles in Sintra were amazing, and I'm not even really into castles. I want to go back!

posted by gillsnthrills on March 2nd 2009 at 12:07pm
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Ooh, they look wonderful! Thank you for introducing me to my new sweetest friend! :-)

posted by Cakespy on March 2nd 2009 at 12:48pm
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Portuguese pastries...try out the pasteis de belem!

posted by vascocastro on March 2nd 2009 at 1:37pm
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Rats, I was in Sintra a few years ago, and didn't know to look out for the pastries. The castle are gorgeous and have such beautiful tiles and sculptures. One of my favorite travel photographs is of the crumbling Moorish stone fortress against the blue, blue sky.

posted by SnorkelVik on March 2nd 2009 at 2:09pm
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This was one of the last things I bought in Portugal - they sell them in the airport in case you eat the ones from Sintra before you leave!
Cakespy - you should do a cakewalk in Portugal - it will blow you away! And Cupie would love the tiles.

posted by ts on March 2nd 2009 at 4:13pm
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I was surprised and happy to see a link to my recipe for Queijadas de Sintra (The Age article)... I think it's the first time I've seen it mentioned on the web. Thanks!!

As with many traditional Portuguese sweets with "secret" recipes, many of the home recipes you can find on the web are not particularly close to the real thing. The queijadas recipes are often that way, and even more so the recipes for pastéis de nata... I worked long and hard on both the queijada recipe and my pastéis de nata recipe.

Anyway, back to the queijadas... yours (per the pic) are from the very famous Piriquita, near the palace, but many people prefer the ones from the shop a few hundred metres down the road towards the low town (I think it's called João Preto or something similar?).

posted by Duncan | Syrup & Tang on March 2nd 2009 at 11:45pm
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I love queijadas... I ate way too many on my last trip to Portugal!

posted by xieta on March 3rd 2009 at 8:53am
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they're great... and by seeing a photo you might think they have a normal size, but they're so tiny you can eat easily more than one, or two, or three... ahahah we have a great history of pastries here in portugal, all made with eggs, made in convents...

if you want, i can try to translate the recipe for you... just let me know!

posted by Ana Almeida on March 4th 2009 at 10:24am
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