Pastel de Nata

About This Recipe

Pastéis de nata are Portugal's most adored pastry — saucer-sized cups of bronzed, shatteringly crisp puff pastry holding a wobbling pool of vanilla-and-cinnamon custard, the surface charred almost black in spots from a furious oven. The recipe was perfected in the 18th century by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, who used egg yolks left over from starching their habits to make the custard (the whites went to clarify wine). The original Belém recipe is still a closely guarded secret, but home cooks can come remarkably close with very hot ovens, very cold pastry, and the patience to lift each tart from its tin at exactly the right moment.

Ingredients

Serves 12

• 1 sheetall-butter puff pastry, thawed (about 320 g)
• 250 mlwhole milk
• 1 striplemon peel
• 1 stickcinnamon
• 1vanilla pod, split (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 200 gcaster sugar
• 80 mlwater
• 25 gcornflour
• 6 largeegg yolks
• icing sugar and ground cinnamon, to dust

Instructions

1. 1

   Infuse milk

   Warm milk in a saucepan with lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and vanilla until just steaming. Pull off heat, cover, and infuse 15 minutes. Strain.

2. 2

   Sugar syrup

   In another pan, dissolve sugar in water. Bring to 105°C on a thermometer (or boil 3 minutes until just syrupy). Set aside.

3. 3

   Slurry

   Whisk cornflour into a few tablespoons of cold water until smooth. Whisk into the infused milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes until thickened to a loose custard. Cool 5 minutes.

4. 4

   Combine custard

   Slowly whisk the hot sugar syrup into the milk mixture, then beat in the egg yolks one by one. Strain into a jug. Press cling film to the surface; cool to lukewarm.

5. 5

   Shape pastry

   Unroll pastry. Roll up tightly along the long side into a log. Slice into 12 discs (about 2 cm thick).

6. 6

   Mould

   Stand each disc, cut-side up, in a muffin tin cup. Dip thumbs in cold water and press from the center outward, pushing the pastry up the sides to form a thin cup with a slightly thicker base. Chill 20 minutes.

7. 7

   Fill

   Heat oven to its maximum (250–260°C), shelf near the top. Pour custard into each cup, filling three-quarters full.

8. 8

   Blast bake

   Bake 10–14 minutes, watching closely, until the custard is dark gold with black blisters and the pastry edges are deeply caramelized. The custard will puff dramatically and settle as it cools.

9. 9

   Unmould and dust

   Cool 5 minutes in the tin, then lift out (a small offset spatula helps). Dust with icing sugar and a whisper of cinnamon. Eat while still warm.

Variations

• •

  Add a teaspoon of orange-blossom water to the custard for a Lisbon-pastelaria nuance.

• •

  Use chocolate pastry cream for a modern Pastel de Chocolate.

• •

  Serve with a tiny espresso, Portuguese style — bica.

Storage

Best eaten the same day. Up to 24 hours at room temperature in an airtight tin; revive in a 200°C oven for 4 minutes — never microwave.

Frequently Asked Questions