Mexidos (Minho Christmas Bread Pudding with Honey, Port and Nuts)
- Prep
- 15 min
- Total
- 40 min
- servings
- 8
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Difficulty
- Easy
In the Minho, from Braga and Guimarães to Viana do Castelo and Ponte de Lima, Christmas Eve isn’t complete without a steaming dish of mexidos. Served right after the salt cod and the octopus, they’re an ancient spoon dessert that brings together the finest things of the Minho winter: milk, honey, bread, port and nuts.
Unlike Christmas sweets that need long frying, mexidos are made in one pot in 40 minutes and fill the house with the smell of cinnamon, honey and toasted nuts.
Recipe
Mexidos de Natal do Minho
A must on Christmas Eve in Braga, Viana do Castelo, Guimarães and Barcelos: a warm, rich, fragrant cream in which wheat bread melts into milk, sugar, honey, butter, port, egg yolks and nuts.
Ingredients
For the mexidos
Method
Boiling the fragrant milk and the bread
- 1Start by soaking the raisins in the 60 ml of warm port for 15 minutes. Lightly toast the pine nuts, walnuts and almonds in a dry frying pan for 2 minutes to release their oils.
- 2In a wide pan, bring the milk to the boil with the sugar, honey, butter, lemon peel and cinnamon stick.
- 3Add the bread torn into small pieces and cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon so the bread melts into a thick, velvety cream.
Folding in the nuts and binding with the yolks
- 4Add the raisins with the port and three quarters of the walnuts, pine nuts and almonds (keep the rest to decorate). Simmer for 4 minutes over low heat.
- 5Take the pan off the heat, remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick and temper the 5 beaten yolks with two ladles of the hot cream.
- 6Pour the tempered yolks into the pan, stirring hard, and return to the lowest heat for 2 minutes until it thickens, without letting it boil.
- 7Serve in a deep dish or clay bowls, dust with ground cinnamon and decorate with the reserved pine nuts, walnuts and almonds.
Mexidos or formigos?
Mexidos are made with milk, and the bread is stirred slowly until it melts into a thick, smooth cream, eaten from a bowl with a spoon. The formigos of Porto are made in a syrup of water, brown sugar, honey and port, and the bread stays in visible pieces.
Tips
Use wheat bread two days old: fresh bread turns gummy, while day-old bread melts gently into the milk and thickens it without flour. Toast the nuts first so they don’t go soft in the cream. A strong Portuguese honey, heather or chestnut, gives the dark amber color and rustic taste.
They keep covered in the fridge for up to 4 days; warm them gently with two spoonfuls of milk.
