Charutos dos Arcos

Charutos dos Arcos are a traditional Portuguese dessert of cigar-shaped pastries ("charuto" means "cigar" in Portuguese) filled with a rich almond paste and egg yolk cream. The pastry is usually made from wafers and is filled with the almond or egg yolk mixture before being rolled into a cigar-like shape and rolled in sugar. The dessert is considered a conventual sweet, as many in Portugal, and the original recipe is a secret. Still, it is mainly connected with the Arcos de Valdevez's Doçaria Central, which trademarked it in 1963. Other city bakeries make variations on the original recipe by adding chila jam and orange zest, for example. It is recommended that it be served with slices of Ermelo orange.