Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

6 Servings
100% would make this recipe for Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts) again.

This recipe is a combination/adaptation of two found at epicurious.com and allrecipes.com. While I found them intimidating to make the first time, they are not terribly difficult and are unbelievably delicious.

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Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts) Ingredients

-- Tart Shells --	Zest of 1/2 a small lemon finely grated (approx. 5/8t)
2 sheets PC butter puff pastry defrosted, but quite cold	4 large Egg yolks
1 tablespoon Butter melted	1/8 teaspoon Salt
-- Custard --	1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup Granulated sugar	-- Topping --
1 tablespoon All purpose flour	1/2 tablespoon Icing sugar
1 1/4 cups Heavy cream	1/4 teaspoon Ground cinnamon

Instructions for Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups with melted butter.

Using a biscuit cutter, cut puff pastry into twelve 3" rounds. With your hands, gently stretch the rounds out until they are approximately 4" in diameter and place one round in each muffin cup. Press pastry into bottom and sides of the cups; they should be lined to within approximately 1/4" of the top.

Whisk together sugar and flour in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, then whisk in remaining custard ingredients and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until bubbles just start to appear on the surface, about 10 minutes. Transfer custard to a bowl and cool, whisking occasionally, until just warm, about 15 minutes.

Fill pastry cups with custard (about 2 - 3T each) and bake in upper third of oven until pastry is deep golden, about 20 minutes. Custard should be starting to brown and there may be the odd burned bit on the edges.

Cool tarts slightly (in the muffin tin) on a rack, about 10 minutes. Remove from tin, then sift first icing sugar, then cinnamon, over tarts. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Main Ingredient: CustardCuisine: Portuguese

Ingredient Insight - look inside this recipe

Butter

Cinnamon

Cream

Egg

Flour

Lemon

Puff Pastry

Salt

Sugar

Tart

Vanilla

Bake Custard Pastry Tarts Desserts Portuguese

for flavor and categorization

Good recipe but far too much sugar and too little lemon. Increase to zest juice of 1 whole lemon and decrease sugar by one third.

oideas
on Jun 8 2008 6:42AM

Total Time: 0:50
Active time: 0:20

I lived in areas around Lisbon for over a year and could not get enough of these Pasteis. Great replication of on of the best pastries you will ever have.

goldfixe
on Mar 5 2008 3:41PM

Start checking the tarts at about 15 minutes and check every 5 minutes until they''re ready. [I posted this recipe.]