In Portugal Religious Orders were abolished in the 19^th century and all monasteries had to be closed. In order to survive a monk from Saint Hieronymus’ Order sold the secret recipe for a special custard tart: the Pastel de Belem (a crispy tart with eggs and sugar filling). Ever since this recipe is kept a secret by the family that today owns the official Pasteis de Belem factory, where people from around the world go to get them warm out of the oven and sprinkled with the cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Despite the secret these small precious tarts are so delicious that all around the globe people are producing similar ones: in London, for example, the Portuguese custard tarts are available at Fortnum & Mason and Stella McCartney or even Prince Charles are known consumers!! In America (Miami, NYC, New Jersey), in Canada, Australia, Japan or Brazil this small tart has also proofed to be a success!