Portugal
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Custard tarts
Pastéis de Nata, also commonly referred to as egg custard tarts, are tarts filled with a sweet, creamy custard, covered in a crisp and flaky pastry, topped with cinnamon. These tarts get caramelized to have a distinctive look of the French crème brulee.
History
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The term Pastéis de Nata is Portuguese for “cream pastries.” This dessert is arguably Portugal’s favourite dessert. They were invented in the 18th century by the monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Santa Maria de Belem, Portugal. At the time it was common to starch nuns’ clothes with egg whites, and this left the monks with a lot of leftover egg yolks. They used the egg whites in many desserts, and once they perfected this custard tart recipe, they began to sell them to provide income for the monastery. When the monastery closed in 1834, they sold the recipe to the owners of Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, which opened 3 years later, and this quickly became a popular place to try Pastéis de Nata in Lisbon.
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reflection
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This dessert was a hit with my family. This dessert was delicious, and it was relatively easy to make. The size of the tarts are perfect as you can easily hold them, and the texture of the custard was thick and creamy. I have made this dessert before, but with a different recipe, and I enjoyed the sugar syrup that was infused with cinnamon and lemon. I think next time to improve this dessert, I need to add less of the custard to the tart, as I overfilled them a bit, as it throws the balance of custard and pastry off a little bit, however this was an extremely delicious dessert that I will be making again. These tarts can be easily stored in the fridge.
This is why my family rate the custard tarts from Portugal a 9/10.
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Pastéis de nata recipe
serves: 12 cooking time: 30 mins total time: 60 mins
Ingredients
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1/3 cup all-purpose flour
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1/4 teaspoon salt
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1 1/2 cups of whole milk
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1 1/3 cups white sugar
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1/3 cup water
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6 large egg yolks
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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1 cinnamon stick
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1 lemon peel only, cut into strips
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2 sheets pre-rolled puff pastry
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Ground cinnamon
Method
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1. Preheat your oven to 260 C, and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. In a saucepan, bring to a boil the sugar, water, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick. Resist the urge to stir!
3. Separately, whisk the milk, flour, and salt together very thoroughly. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes or until well combined and the milk is thickened. Take off the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
4. Once cooled, whisk in the egg yolks. Then add the sugar syrup (first removing the cinnamon stick), and mix until everything is well-combined. Strain into a measuring jug.
5. Meanwhile, cut the puff pastry sheet into two pieces and place them on top of each other. Tightly roll the sheets into a log, from the short side. Next, cut the log into 12 evenly sized pieces.
6. Place one piece in each of the 12 wells of the muffin tin. Dipping your thumb in cold water first, press your thumb down into the center of the dough piece and press outwards to form a cup with the pastry. The pastry cup should have its top edge just above the top of the well of the muffin tin.
7. Fill each pastry cup 3/4 of the way to the top with custard.
8. Put the tray in the oven and bake until the custard starts to caramelize and blister and the pastry goes golden brown (roughly 10-12 minutes).
9. Serve warm, with dusted ground cinnamon on top