Oreo’s Serradura

Dark Oreo crumbs and white cream in layers: the serradura as ever, this time in black and white.

The Oreo biscuits crumble into dark cocoa crumbs. The cream is whipped until firm, the sweetened condensed milk lending it sweetness and body. Crumb and cream alternate, and the name explains itself: serradura is Portuguese for sawdust, and the crumbs look exactly the part. In the fridge, the dessert settles. The cream grows denser, the biscuit softens and keeps a bit of bite.

On the spoon, the contrast does the work: cool, almost melting cream against crumbs that crunch softly. A Sunday family dessert, carried to Macau in the days of the Portuguese presence, where it became famous. The Oreo version pulls the layers towards the dark of the cocoa, and the spoon is always empty too soon.