Guide to making easy, no bake dessert: Serradura
Portuguese dish made by layering cookies with cream
When your pantry is running low on supplies, you have guests coming over, or you suddenly crave a sweet treat, this is just the right recipe for you! This dessert is easy to whip up yet so elegant and delicious that one would not believe it is made with just four basic ingredients.
What is Serradura?
Serradura is a traditional Portuguese dessert quite popular in Macao, China, and Goa, India. 'Serradura' means sawdust in Portuguese, which is why this dessert is often referred to as sawdust pudding, as well.
It, in fact, gets its name from the crumbled Marie biscuits that highly resemble sawdust.
You need whipping cream, condensed milk, Marie biscuits and vanilla to make this dream of a dessert. There are just three basic steps to make this pudding, namely, grinding the biscuits, prepping the cream and assembling the layers.
Variations
Since, Serradura is essentially layered cookies and cream, you can create numerous variants of this dessert by flavouring the whipped cream or using different types of biscuits. Some variations may include spiking the whipped cream with chocolate, lemon curd, or any other flavourings of your choice. In addition, you can choose to use other biscuit crumbs like Oreo instead of the traditional Marie biscuits.
Preparation time - 15 minutes
Setting time - 4 to 6 hours
Serving – 7 to 8
Ingredients
200 gms whipping cream
50 gms of sweetened condensed milk
15-20 Marie biscuits
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Method
Take the whipping cream in a chilled bowl and add the vanilla essence. Whip the cream with a hand blender till it reaches soft peaks.
Add the sweetened condensed milk to the whipped cream and fold it to form a creamy filling for the pudding.
Break the Marie biscuits into smaller pieces. Pulse it in a high-powdered blender to form fine crumbs.
In a serving container of your choice, alternately layer the cream and the biscuit crumb, ending with a layer of the crumbs.
Refrigerate the pudding for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, to let it set and allow the biscuit layer to soften.
Garnish with toppings of your choice and serve cold.
Tips and tricks
1. Make sure not to overwhip the cream; otherwise, it might split.
2. If you do not have a blender, place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin.
3. If you do not have Marie biscuits available, you may use any other cookies of your choice.
4. You can choose to set this pudding in a cake form instead of individual portions by layering it in a spring pan or a ring mould lined with cling film. You will need to freeze the cake to de-mould it; therefore, it will have an ice-cream-like texture.
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