Quindins

The “quindins” or “quindim” in the singular (it is pronounced “kine djine”) also come to us (after the guava roll cake) from Brazil… The first time I ate this was in Rio in the café “Confeitaria Colombo”. And I confess: I did not like it… Why is this? Because I didn’t know what was in it. Then I ate it again. Again and again and now I’m hooked! And even now I find this little pastry almost magical. Imagine… All the ingredients are mixed in a blender, poured into molds, and the cake separates during baking. A flan version and a coconut cookie version. And everything works by itself. So what is a quindim? It is a kind of small creamy flan with coconut and egg yolks and sugar. A real delight, very practical when you find yourself with yolks!

Recipe for 28 quindins:

-12 egg yolks
-50g of butter
-400g of sugar
-200g of warm water
-100g of dry grated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Soak the grated dried coconut in 200g of warm water.

Let stand for 5 minutes.

Put the sugar and butter in a blender.

Add coconut and soaking water (if not all absorbed by the coconut!).

Also add the egg yolks.

Blend for two minutes to obtain a homogeneous mixture.

Here are the No. 1 turkey baskets. There are several sizes. Place the mussels in an ovenproof dish.

Note from Bernard: finding a quindim mold in France is impossible. Even in São Paulo, it was not easy. So you can find small pans that are higher than tart pans. At worst, you can make them in small ramekins.

In any case, butter each mold.

Then sweeten them. It is the buttering and sugaring that will ensure that the quindins will come out of the moulds, even though we use aluminium moulds.

Pour the mixture to the top of each mold. The dough will not puff up.

Add boiling water to the dish containing the mussels. Water is needed up to two thirds of the height of the mussels.

Bake at 180°C for 50 minutes (or until the surface is colored). The coconut will float during the baking process and it is the coconut that will make the cookie!