Doces finos do Algarve
Marzipan fruits with egg-yolk cream
Doces finos: Algarve marzipan fruits filled with a soft egg-yolk cream
Tiny pears, oranges, strawberries and even fish, all made of almond paste and painted by hand: these are the sweets Algarve families order for Christmas, Easter and weddings, and that every January market in Loulé shows off. Inside each one sits a spoonful of doce de ovos, the sunny yolk cream found all over Portuguese convent baking. The almond paste here is cooked in syrup, which makes it smooth and easy to model. Chef's tip: dust your hands and the work surface with icing sugar, never flour, or the shapes go chalky.
- Total time
- 115 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 24
Ingredients
For the almond paste
- 14 oz sugar
- ¾ cup water
- 14 oz ground almondsblanched, very finely ground
- 2 ⅛ oz icing sugarfor dusting
To decorate
- food colouring gelsorange, red, yellow and green
- 12 whole cloves (optional)for stalks
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Start with the egg-yolk cream. Boil 3 ½ oz sugar and 3 ½ tbsp water in a small pan for 3 minutes until it thickens slightly and bubbles cover the surface. Let it cool for 3 minutes.
6 minStep 2: Whisk 4 egg yolks in a bowl and pour in the warm syrup in a thin stream, whisking. Pour back into the pan and stir over a very low heat for 5–6 minutes until it thickens like soft custard and reaches at least 167°F. Spread on a plate, cover and chill.
6 minStep 3: For the almond paste, boil 14 oz sugar and ¾ cup water until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, about 250°F, when a drop in cold water forms a soft ball.
8 minStep 4: Take the pan off the heat and tip in 14 oz ground almonds all at once. Stir hard with a wooden spoon, then return to a low heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until the paste dries a little and comes away from the sides in one mass.
3 minStep 5: Turn the paste out onto a surface dusted with 2 ⅛ oz icing sugar and leave it until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Knead it briefly until smooth and pliable. A common mistake is working it while still hot, when it is oily and cracks; if it feels greasy, leave it longer.
Step 6: Take a piece the size of a large walnut (about 25 g), flatten it into a disc in your palm, put ½ teaspoon of the yolk cream in the middle and close the paste around it. Roll and pinch into a fruit shape: a pear, an orange (roll it over a fine grater for texture), a strawberry or a small fish.
Step 7: Leave the shapes on a tray for 2–3 hours to dry a little on the outside. Paint them with food colouring gels thinned with a drop of water, using a small brush, and push in a clove for a stalk if you like.
Step 8: Dry for another hour, then put each sweet in a paper case. They keep for a week in a cool, airtight box.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 120 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 15 g
- Fat
- 6 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does doces finos do Algarve take?
- About 115 minutes in total: 90 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 24 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of ground almonds?
- Ground cashews, same amount.
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