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  • Can't resist sweets? Then you're in for a treat, because Europe boasts a huge variety of specialty pastries. Today we're serving you five irresistible creations you won't want to pass up on.

  • We're starting out with Portugal's sweetest piece of cultural heritage, Pastéis de Belé.

  • The pastry shop of the same name in Lisbon has been baking the little tarts since 1837.

  • Pastry chef Miguel Clarinha knows the secret recipe.

  • The pastry shop now makes about 20,000 of the flaky delicacies a day.

  • The cream filling needs to be poured quickly into the pastry.

  • Then the pastéis are off to the oven for 20 minutes.

  • Traditionally, while they're still warm, cinnamon and powdered sugar are added.

  • The recipe was originally created in the nearby Hieronymus Monastery, now a UNESCO World Cultural

  • Heritage Site.

  • Today what was once a sweet treat made by monks is now perhaps Portugal's most famous pastry and has become popular even outside the country.

  • Next our journey takes us to East Germany.

  • Here one typical specialty is created in front of an open flame, Baumkuchen, a very specific kind of spitcake.

  • The little town of Salzwedel is considered its home.

  • The Erste Salzwedeler Baumkuchenfabrik still prepares it, following the traditional recipe from 200 years ago.

  • The dough is made from butter and egg yolk.

  • The egg whites are separated.

  • There they go through some 1,000 eggs a day.

  • Wheat flour and a secret spice mix are added.

  • And at the end, beaten egg whites and sugar.

  • Then the dough is poured onto a rotating wooden spit in layers and baked in front of an open flame.

  • As soon as the Baumkuchen has cooled down, the finishing touch is a chocolate or sugar glaze.

  • Fun fact, Baumkuchen, or tree cake, owes its name to its visible layers, which look like the rings of a tree.

  • Now we're off to the city of Lille in northern France.

  • Meringue, chocolate and a lot of cream, that's what goes into a merveilleux, which translates to wonderful.

  • The cake is traditionally prepared with buttercream, but its reinterpretation by French pastry chef Frédéric Vaucan is especially popular.

  • First, egg whites and sugar are whipped into the meringue.

  • That's baked in the oven for about an hour at 100 degrees Celsius.

  • In the meantime, the cream is beaten until it thickens and mixed with cocoa.

  • The baked meringue is coated with the cream and covered with another doff of meringue.

  • It all gets topped off with an outer cream coat, and then it's rolled in bits of chocolate or nuts.

  • Whether the classic version with dark chocolate or garnished with a cherry, pistachios or nuts, there's a merveilleux for anyone's taste.

  • Next stop, Spain.

  • Their best enjoyed dunked in liquid hot chocolate, churros, the champions of Spanish street foods.

  • Lines regularly form in front of the churrerías like this one in Madrid.

  • Churros are made of just three ingredients, wheat flour, salt and hot water.

  • But they're hard work to make.

  • The finished dough is pressed into a mold and then fried in hot oil, making the churros nice and crunchy.

  • That's how countless churro wheels are created here every day.

  • Cut up into smaller pieces, they're usually served with thick, dark hot chocolate and they're a real hit at any time of the day.

  • It's important to note you eat churros warm and casually with your fingers.

  • That way they taste extra authentic.

  • Now we're reaching the end of the journey and we're having a cream tea in Britain.

  • The British specialty includes clotted cream, strawberry jam and a freshly baked scone.

  • The ingredients for scones is very basic.

  • Flour and salt into the bowl with baking powder.

  • Together with cold butter, it all turns into a crumbly dough.

  • Add the sugar, give that a mix, a squeeze of lemon juice and then you would add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and then you start to add your milk.

  • It's important for the dough not to turn to liquid.

  • A little mold is used to portion the individual scones before they go into the oven for ten minutes.

  • They're traditionally served with thick clotted cream and jam.

  • What you put on a scone first is a subject of debate.

  • Cream first, definitely.

  • I put the jam first.

  • Cream first and then the jam.

  • What do you think?

  • And what sweet specialty is your home country famous for?

  • Let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more videos like this.

  • See you next time.

Can't resist sweets? Then you're in for a treat, because Europe boasts a huge variety of specialty pastries. Today we're serving you five irresistible creations you won't want to pass up on.

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