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5.0 from 3 votes

Pastéis de Nata Custard Tarts

Inspired by the Portuguese custard tarts served at 'Comme à Lisbonne' in Paris. This easy recipe uses ready-made puff pastry to make it so much quicker than the traditional tarts. Uses up 4 egg yolks.

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
55 mins
Servings: 12 tartlets
Calories: 134 kcal
Course: Dessert , Breakfast
Cuisine: Portuguese

Ingredients

  • 4 egg yolks organic
  • 75 g (2½oz) sugar
  • 15 g (1 tbsp) cornflour/cornstarch
  • 1 vanilla pod/bean scraped of seeds (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/powder)*
  • 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
  • 230 g (8oz) puff pastry 1 pack of ready-rolled or a pack of frozen puff, defrosted
  • Powdered cinnamon to serve

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Chill a bowl in the fridge. Off the heat, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract or seeds (scraped from a pod cut in half down the middle horizontally) in a saucepan using a balloon whisk until you have a creamy paste. Gradually add the milk, whisking until mixed well together.
  2. Put the pan on a medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove pan from the heat. (If you don’t use the vanilla pod, add the extract or powder at this point). Transfer the custard to the chilled bowl and immediately cover it with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool.
  3. Lightly oil or butter the muffin moulds and preheat the oven - preferably to the highest setting at 250°C/480°F/230°C mark 9.
  4. On a lightly floured surface – roll the pastry if needed – using a cookie cutter or glass (about 9cm diameter, slightly bigger than the 7cm diameter muffin cavity), cut out discs and press them into each cavity. Spoon in the cooled custard about ¾ to the top then bake for 7-10 minutes until the custard is blistered on the top.
  5. Leave to cool in the moulds/tins for about 5 minutes then turn them out on to a wire rack.

Notes

  • Serve cold or ever slightly warm with a dusting of powdered cinnamon.
  • A vanilla bean/pod is preferable for this recipe but if you prefer to use extract or powder, then use it quite sparingly depending on the brand you use. I say use a teaspoon but taste the custard first. If it needs more, add more but better to dose carefully. Some brands use much more - see Nielsen Massey's instructions.