Provincetown Portuguese Cookbook

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Rolled Cookies | Rocks | Sweet Potato Pastries | Egg Cookies | Sighs | Mariana's Tea Biscuits | Sherried Cookies | Egg Cake | Russian Tea Cakes | Andrew's Fudgies | Molasses Cookies | Brigadiers | Torta de Viana | Honey Bread | Crème Caramel à la Portugaise | Port Flan | Maria's Portuguese Sweet Rice Pudding | Del's Sweet Rice Pudding | Brazilian Fresh Corn Pudding | Almond Tart | Joyce's Choice Cheesecake | Milk Sweet

Bolos de Folha

Edith Henrique Codinha

Edith's daughter, Linda Codinha O'Brien, is my best friend. She and I went to Hawaii in 1968 shortly after we graduated from college. It was our first Christmas away from home. Consumed with homesickness, we wrote Edith and asked for all of her Christmas recipes. Knowing that we'd have a little taste of home that Christmas, we threw ourselves into baking. What we hadn't reckoned on was how much each recipe made. We were buried in pastries. Every pot, pan and dish we owned was filled to overflowing with bolos, trutas and suspiros. I have never made these sweets again, preferring to eat them at Edith's or her son Peter's during the holidays.

All of Edith's pastries are extremely flaky and rich because she uses lard.

Dough:

1 lb. butter, softened

1 lb. lard, softened

13/4 cups sugar

5 lbs. flour

1 yeast cake

1/2 cup warm water

6 oranges, juiced

6 eggs, beaten with a dash of salt

Filling:

5 lb. sugar

l lb. melted butter

Bolos take a long time to make. It's best to start early in the morning.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Mix the lard, butter, 13/4 cups sugar, eggs, juice and yeast mixture together. Add the flour and knead it gently into the mixture, incorporating as needed. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover. Allow the dough to rest overnight or at least 4 hours.

Break the dough into sections and roll out very thin. It is important that the dough be thin because the dough will rise as it cooks. Brush the dough with the melted butter and generously sprinkle with the additional sugar. Roll into logs, like a jelly roll, and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a 325° oven until the bolos are lightly tanned. Do not overbake or the bolos will become very hard. Remove the bolos immediately from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 dozen.