Biscoitos da sertã

They are long-lasting sweets and part of the pilgrimage routine – both Christmas and related to the festivities of Senhora da Assunção in Vilas Boas. Simple to do, for a typical family Christmas (…).

Beat four eggs very well with two hundred and fifty grams of sugar. Then add the zest and juice of a good orange, then half a cup of olive oil, one cup of milk and a glass of marc brandy. At the end, add a kilo of wheat flour with the yeast. Knead the dough by hand, and then shape the sweets one by one, in the shape of a donut, frying them in plenty of oil in a deep container, turning continuously over a low heat. Once fried, they are placed on absorbent paper and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Attention: the dough must be neither too hard nor too soft – that is the only secret.

The term “sertã” is commonly used in Trás-os-Montes and means a frying pan. And it appears, as such, in all Trás-os-Montes’s language dictionaries.

These sertã cookies are still present in the baskets of the pilgrimages and on specific dates, in addition to the obligatory presence in the festivities of Senhora da Assunção in Vilas Boas.

The particularity of frying it in olive oil from Vila Flor gives it a distinctive flavour.