There is no better way to bring travel than through food.

Sweets carry us to celebration dates, from small family gatherings to important national celebrations and traditional holidays.

Areias (Portuguese name for “sands”) are one of the most famous delicassies from Cascais. These small cookies are referred in 19th century national literature as associated to the town and a reference has first been published in the 1930's.

Surprisingly there are many recipes for these sweets. The one presented here has been taken from the book Recipes of Kings and Fishermen, a local cookbook that best represents the municipality's gastronomic tradition.

These cookies would first have been a homemade sweet, and the name had clear link to fishermen and sea sand. Nowadays these can be found in most local pastry shops as part of the usual production.

If you're looking to fill your culinary passport, try the recipe below and enjoy this local delicassy without leaving your kitchen.

Cascais Areias

Ingredients:

• 190g sugar
• 190g butter
• 90g lard
• Lemon zest
• 550g wheat flour
• 250g icing sugar

Directions:

Beat the sugar, butter, lard and juice. Stir in the flour. Let it rest for an hour. If needed, add a few drops of water. Make small balls from the mixture and place them on a tray lined with butter, and bake it at 230°C for about 15 minutes.

They should be light in colour; do not bake until brown.

Once removed from the oven, coat them in sugar.

 This recipe was taken from the book Recipes of Kings and Fishermen, the english version is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Recipes-Fishermen-Portuguese-Cl%C3%A1udia-Mataloto/dp/9896606013