Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Visiting Lisbon and Porto in Portugal was life changing. Not only is Portugal a beautiful country, it is full of life and culture. The people are lovely and the food is even lovelier. I must’ve had way more than my fair share of these beautiful, vanilla scented tarts during our 10 days in the country. But they were pretty irresistible! I mean, just look at these photos I snapped of the most delicious Pasteis de Nata I’ve ever had:

My mouth waters just looking at these images again…

There are some foods that just burn into your sense memory, and for me this was one of them. I will always remember not only the taste, but also the feeling of popping into tiny little backstreet bakeries and purchasing one that has literally just been taken out of the oven. Those experiences are rare and for me, worth trying to recreate.

The key to great Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts) is actually quite simple.

Uber flaky pastry.
Super vanilla flavor.
Silky smooth custard.

oh, and let’s not forget the iconic dark spots on top (which are incredibly difficult to master in a home oven, but let’s give it a go, shall we?).

A few tips to help make the best Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts) possible: Take care in rolling the pastry properly. We want flakiness and lots of layers! Also, be sure to whisk your custard like mad: no lumps here! And lastly: don’t skimp on the vanilla. It takes your tart from ordinary to extraordinary! Get ready for your cheapest ever vacation to Portugal!

Look at the spiral on the bottom of the pastry! This is where your hard work rolling and cutting the pastry pays off! So many layers of flakiness!

Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Yield: Makes 12 tarts

Ingredients

2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
115g /4ozs caster sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
230ml/8.11fl ozs cream (or whole milk)
170ml/6fl ozs Milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 sheet rolled all butter puff pastry

Instructions

Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tray.
Put the egg yolks and egg, sugar and cornstarch in a pan and whisk together. Gradually whisk in the cream or milk until smooth.
Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC.
Cut the pastry dough sheet in half lengthways. Put one half on top of the other and set aside for 5 minutes. Roll up the pastry tightly from the shorter end and cut the pastry log into 12 x 1cm rounds. You should have little spirals in each piece. Lay each pastry round on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is about 10cm in diameter.
Press the pastry rounds into the prepared muffin tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard are golden. Leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Recipe from Flick of the Whisk. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

http://www.flickofthewhisk.com/2015/03/portuguese-custard-tarts/