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FijiFlavors · Coimbra
Half-moon of very thin pastry, baked in the oven, filled with a sweet made from egg yolks and almond. A convent sweet associated with the Mosteiro de Santa Clara, on the banks of the Mondego, in Coimbra.
Traditional sweet from Coimbra, Coimbra
Also known as: pastel de Santa Clara, pastéis de Santa Clara de Coimbra
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Pastéis de Santa Clara — Coimbra, Portugal
The Pastéis de Santa Clara from Coimbra are small pastries shaped like a flared hat, made with a very thin dough of flour, butter and water. The filling is a sweet mixture of egg yolks and sugar with almond. They are baked, not fried, and come out with a light, golden pastry, dusted with sugar.
The name comes from the Mosteiro de Santa Clara, where the recipe is said to have originated. The first monastery, Santa Clara-a-Velha, was built starting in 1314 by order of Queen Saint Isabel, on the left bank of the Mondego river. Frequent floods forced the nuns to move in 1677 to the new Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova, on higher ground, where the queen’s tomb is located; she is the city’s patron.
After the dissolution of the religious orders, the recipe passed to women of the city, who sold the pastries in the street and at fairs. From the 20th century, Coimbra bakeries resumed production, and the sweet became one of the landmarks of Coimbra’s conventual confectionery. The municipality presented it as one of the council’s sweets in the 7 Maravilhas Doces de Portugal contest in 2019, in which it reached the semifinals.
Other Portuguese towns, such as Vila do Conde, Portalegre and Évora, have pastries with the same name linked to other clarissa convents; some are fried. The Coimbra version is distinguished by being baked in the oven and by its egg-and-almond filling.
They are eaten by hand, as a snack or dessert, often with a coffee. The ruins of Santa Clara-a-Velha and the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Nova are a few steps apart, on the other side of the bridge that leads out of the Baixa.
Coimbra , Coimbra
Convent sweet associated with the Mosteiro de Santa Clara in Coimbra, presented by the Municipality as one of the council’s sweets.
Dough of wheat flour, butter and water; filling of egg yolks, sugar and almond; sugar for sprinkling.
At room temperature, eaten with the hands, as a snack or dessert, often with a coffee.
All year round.
Your questions
Those from Coimbra are baked in the oven. In other towns, such as Portalegre and Évora, there are pastries with the same name that are fried.
The name comes from the Mosteiro de Santa Clara, from the Poor Clare nuns of Coimbra, where the recipe is believed to have originated. The old monastery, on the banks of the Mondego, was replaced in 1677 by Santa Clara-a-Nova because of flooding.
A sweet of egg yolks and sugar with almond, encased in a thin dough of flour, butter and water.
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