Portugese Egg Tarts (Pasteis de nata)
Makes: 24 tarts (using a 12 tart tin)
Preparation time: 40 minutes (plus two hours resting)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Hard
Ingredients
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Dough
250g flour
190g cold water
210g butter, at room temp
Pinch salt
Filling
270g caster sugar
190ml water
365ml milk
1 cinnamon stick
7 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
70g flour
Method
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Dough
1. For the dough, add the flour, water and salt together into a stand mixer and mix with a dough hook until it starts to pull away from the side. Approx. 3-4 minutes. Turn out onto a floured work surface and pat into a small flat square. Wrap in glad wrap and rest for 15 minutes.
2. Return back to the dough and unwrap. Flour work surface, making sure there is adequate flour under the square, so it doesn’t stick. Roll into a 45cm square. Trim edges.
3. Use 1/3 of the butter, to cover the right 2/3 of the square. Spread it out with an offset spatula. You might find it easier to dot little bits of butter around the 2/3 and then spread with the spatula. Leave 1cm border (do not spread all the way to the edge).
4. Fold the left 1/3 of the dough into the other 2/3. Then the remaining right 1/3 back over the rest of the day. It should resemble letter fold (you should have 1/3 of the original size remaining).
5. Turn the dough 90 degrees, and roll it out again into a 45cm square. Repeat the process, placing another 1/3 of the butter, over the right 2/3. Fold the dough using an envelope fold again.
6. Rotate dough 90 degrees, and roll out into a 45 x 55cm rectangle, have the shorter side facing you. Spread the remaining 1/3 of butter over the entire dough.
7. Lift the short edge of the dough, and roll away into a tight log. Take care to brush the excess flour as roll. Trim the ends and cut the log in half. Each half of the log will make 12 tarts. Wrap the roll in glad wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
Custard
8. For the custard, whisk flour and ¼ cup of the milk (60ml) until no lumps remain. Separately, scald remaining milk until warm but not boiling. Whisk this hot milk into the flour/milk mix.
9. On the stove, bring sugar, cinnamon, water to boil at 100 degrees. Don’t stir. Remove the cinnamon stick, and gently stream in this into the milk/flour mix continuing to whisk. Keep stirring until still warm. Whisk in the yolks and vanilla. Strain and cover with glad wrap and set aside in fridge until ready to use. The custard will be really thin.
Assembly and baking
10. Preheat oven to your hottest setting (mine was around 300 degrees). Remove pastry from freezer and roll it until it is 40cm long. Cut into 12 equal pieces. Place the dough cut side down into the muffin pan.
11. In a bowl, place some water (to help work the dough). Dip your fingers into the water and working from the middle use your thumb to place an indent in the centre of the dough. Work it up the sides of the pan, ensuring that the bottom of the cups are thinner than the tops. Work it until it is about 1.5mm thick on the bottom and 2-2.5mm on the sides.
12. Fill each cup ¾ full with custard. Bake until the pastries are brown on the side and the custard has bubbled and the tops have started to brown in certain spots. This will take approximately 10 minutes but you’ll need to keep an eye on them so they don’t burn (as you’re using your oven at such a high temperature). If you’re making larger ones, naturally they will take longer.
13. Remove, and sprinkle with icing sugar and cinnamon and serve.
Note: the pastry will keep for 3 months in a freezer.
