Doce da casa // House desert

Eu sei que, normalmente, o doce da casa é um doce de 3 camadas. Mas para mim, o doce da casa é diferente, isto porque a primeira vez que o comi era feito de outra forma... Hmmm, eu adorava o doce da casa do restaurante lá do bairro, era tão bom! Mas quando deixei de ir lá, nunca mais encontrei igual.

Here in Portugal, most restaurants feature a desert called "House desert" that is really the same in every one of them . It's like a triffle : one layer of crushed cookies, one layer of a cream and eggwhites mixture and one layer of custard. But the first time I had "House desert" it was in a restaurant that made it a little bit different and I never had it again after I stopped going to that place. But it was so good, it always remained in my memory!

No outro dia decidi reproduzir cá em casa. É tão simples que nem sei porque não me lembrei de fazer mais cedo. Ficou quase igual ao origina, mas já sei que para a próxima basta pôr um colher de sopa de chocolate :)

The other day I tried to make it at home. It's so simple I can't imagine why I never made it before. It turned out almost the same as in the restaurant, but now I know that the next time  around I only have to put one table spoon of powedered chocolate :)

Bater quatro claras em castelo. Envolver uma lata de leite condensado, meio pacote de bolacha maria esmigalhada e uma colher de sopa de chocolate em pó. Deitar em tacinhas e deixar no frigorífico umas horas. Servir com um cafezinho :)

Beat 4 eggwhites until they're stiff. Gently fold in one can of condensed milk, half a package of crushed Mary cookies* and one table spoon of powdered chocolate. Pour it into bowls and leave them in the fridge for a few hours. Serve with an expresso :)

* I've recently found out that maria cookies were sold all over the world, but sometimes they're called differently. They're those very dry, sweet cookies. They're called Mary Cookies because they were first made for an English Princess or a Queen named Mary.


Uma pequena dica : quando uma receita pede bolacha esmigalhada eu costumo ralá-la com um ralador de cenoura. No entanto, como o meu ralador se perdeu nas mudanças, decidi tentar ralar as bolachas com o meu Saladino... Punha 3 ou 4 bolachas partidas ao meio no bocal e resultou na perfeição :)  Vou passar a fazer desta forma, poupo imenso tempo e paciência!

One little tip : when a recipe calls for crushed cookies I always use a carrot grater to grate them. But my grater got lost in the move so I decided to try and use my little grating machine (it's called Saladino, from Ariette)... I broke the cookies in the middle and put 6 or 8 of the halves in the opening and it grated them perfectly :) I'll do it this way from now on, it saves time and my patience!