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São Miguel Povoação Sweets

Povoação Fennel Cream Puffs (Fofas)

Recipe for fofas da Povoação, São Miguel's fennel-scented choux pastries filled with vanilla or lemon cream and topped with a stripe of chocolate.

Makes
30 pieces
Prep
40 min
Cooking
1h
Difficulty
Medium
Povoação Fennel Cream Puffs (Fofas)

Fofas are the signature sweet of the town of Povoação, on São Miguel. The dough, much like éclair pastry, is flavoured with fennel seeds; once baked, the fofas are filled with vanilla or lemon cream and finished with a stripe of chocolate on top.

They are tied to Carnival, when they were made for the late-night meals that gave revellers the energy to keep celebrating. Today they are sold in Povoação's cafés and pastry shops all year round.

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Grease a baking tray with butter and dust it with flour.

  2. In a saucepan, bring the water and milk, butter, sugar, salt and fennel seeds to the boil.

  3. Add the flour all at once and stir hard with a wooden spoon over low heat until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan.

  4. Take off the heat and let the dough cool slightly.

  5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, until the dough is smooth, glossy and thick.

  6. Using a piping bag or two spoons, place small elongated mounds of dough on the tray, well spaced apart.

  7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the fofas are golden and dry on the outside. If they do not all fit on one tray, bake them in batches.

  8. Cool on a wire rack, then slit each fofa along the side and fill with the cream.

  9. Finish with a stripe of melted chocolate on top and let it set before serving.

Tips

  • For the filling, use a homemade pastry cream flavoured with vanilla or lemon peel, completely cooled.
  • Fill the fofas shortly before serving so the pastry stays crisp.
  • Do not open the oven during the first 15 minutes, or the fofas may collapse.
  • For a smaller batch, halve the recipe: 250 g flour, 250 ml water and milk, 60 g butter, 7 to 8 eggs and half of everything else.

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