Pastéis de Nata | Portuguese Custard Tart

Ingredients:

Crust:

220g Flour

4g Salt

180g Butter (30g cold | 150g soft)

115ml Water

Custard:

170ml Whole milk

10g Butter

1 Cinnamon stick

3 Strips of lemon zest

1 Vanilla bean

10g Flour

4g Cornstarch

75g Sugar

50ml Water

2 Egg yolks 

Method:

Add salt into flour along with 30g cold butter and mix it with your hands until it becomes crumbly. 

Add water and mix until the dough comes together. 

Shape it into a rectangle and wrap it in a plastic bag. Chill it for half an hour before rolling. 

Sprinkle some flour on both sides, and roll it out into a 25*35cm rectangle.

Spread a layer of soft butter all over the dough. Fold it like a letter, sprinkle some flour on both sides and roll it into 35*15cm, and spread another layer of butter. Fold it for the second time and wrap it in plastic. Chill it for half an hour. 

After half an hour cut the dough in half, and start with rolling out the first one as thin as possible. Flip it every now and then, and remember to sprinkle some flour on both sides.

Remove the excess flour from the top of the dough.

Apply a thin layer of butter on top.

Roll it up tightly.

Do the same with the second half.

Place the first roll on it and roll it over.

Cover it with plastic wrap and chill it for half an hour.

To make the custard scrape out the vanilla seeds, and add them into a saucepan along with milk, cinnamon stick, lemon zest, water, and sugar bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Add flour to cornstarch and mix them together.

Pour the milk mixture through a sieve and add a little bit of it into the dry ingredients and mix using a small whisk. Pour it into the saucepan along with the rest of the milk mixture.

Cook it over low heat whisking constantly. It takes 5 to 8 minutes until the custard is thickened. When it is thickened add butter and turn off the heat.

Let it cool before adding the egg yolks.

Add egg yolk, mix it with a whisk and pour it through a sieve.

Cut the rolling dough into equal pieces and place them flat on the bottom of the molds. Press them with your thumbs until the dough covers the inside of your molds.

Fill them with custard and bake them in preheated oven at 220C for 20 minutes. The top of the tart should be caramelized and you should see the black and dark brown spots here and there. Then you know they are ready!

Enjoy.