Pastel de Nata – Portuguese Custard Tarts

About This Recipe

Pastel de Nata is arguably the world's most perfect pastry: a thin, shattering shell of laminated dough — so layered and flaky it almost disintegrates at the touch — filled with a custardy cream of egg yolks, sugar, cream and a hint of lemon zest, baked at very high heat until the custard is blistered, charred in spots, and trembling in the centre. It is Lisbon in a single bite. The original recipe was developed by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon, in the early 19th century. Facing financial hardship after the liberal revolution, the monks sold the recipe to a nearby sugar refinery, which opened the still-operating Pastéis de Belém in 1837 — still the benchmark against which all others are measured. Their recipe remains a closely guarded secret, though food writers and home bakers have produced excellent approximations. The keys are threefold: very thin, very well-laminated pastry (shop-bought all-butter puff works well), a custard made from egg yolks and cream rather than whole eggs and milk (richer, more glossy), and the highest oven temperature you can achieve — 250–280°C — to create the characteristic blistering in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients

Serves 12

• 320 gall-butter puff pastry(shop-bought is fine)
• 500 mlwhole milk
• 160 gcaster sugar
• 40 gplain flour
• 6egg yolks
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• 1strip lemon zest
• 1cinnamon stick
• ground cinnamon and icing sugar(to dust)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the custard

   Warm milk with lemon zest and cinnamon stick until steaming; remove aromatics. Whisk sugar and flour together, then whisk in egg yolks. Pour over hot milk, return to heat, stir constantly until thickened. Add vanilla. Press cling film directly onto surface to prevent a skin. Cool.

2. 2

   Line the tins

   Preheat oven to 250°C (or as high as your oven goes). Roll pastry into a tight log. Cut into 12 equal rounds. Press each round into a greased muffin tin, working the pastry thinly up the sides.

   Wet fingers help press the pastry without it springing back.

3. 3

   Fill and bake

   Fill each pastry case three-quarters full with cooled custard. Bake 12–15 minutes until pastry is golden and custard is blistered and slightly charred in spots.

4. 4

   Serve

   Cool 5 minutes in the tin, then turn out. Dust with cinnamon and icing sugar. Best eaten warm, within an hour of baking.

Variations

• •

  Salted caramel custard tarts: add fleur de sel and caramel to the custard

• •

  Chocolate custard tarts: whisk 2 tbsp cocoa into the flour

• •

  Mini versions: use a mini muffin tin for bite-sized canapé versions

Storage

Best eaten on the day. Reheat in a 200°C oven for 5 minutes to re-crisp. Do not refrigerate unfilled.

Frequently Asked Questions