pastel de nata
how do you beat sunday scaries? Or wanderlust creeping up on you? Sometimes reconstructing something as small as a pastry i indulged in serves as the only consolation for this feeling of missing something. It makes me feel like i brought a piece of it back. Here is how I made Pastel de Nata, a delicious treat I couldn’t stop eating in Lisbon, Portugal.
I got the recipe from Leite Culinaria here (I hit the first link I hit when I googled a recipe ! lol but don’t do this, I got lucky)
The recipe goes into detail about making your own puff pastry, but aint nobody got time.. so I just bought it. But made sure I spent some $$ on a good, french puff pastry so.. yeah. Here’s a a maddy-modified (maddified!!) , summarized version that worked for me.
Ingredients
Cupcake tin
1 box of Puff pastry
5 large egg yolks
3 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla ext
2 Tbsp Orange zest
Thaw and roll up the puff pastry, and cut into thumb-size pieces
Place the piece in a cupcake mold so that the cut side is up, and spread them onto all sides, and refrigerate
in 1 pot, heat 1 cup of milk, and in another pot, heat sugar and water and bring it to a boil (do not stir)
In a bowl, Whisk 1/4 cup of milk with 3 Tbsp flour.
Add the warm milk into the bowl, while whisking.
Add the syrup (sugar+water) into the bowl, while whisking
Add the vanilla
Add the whisked yolks in, also while mixing well.
grate the orange zest into the bowl (optional). The custard will be pretty thin. That’s how it should be. set it aside.
I let the zest to sit in the custard for 2 hours to let the flavors infuse. Then I filtered out the zest so the mixture is thin and smooth. The orange flavor is optional, you can also use lemon zest (I’ve had the lemon-flavored tarts in Lisbon as well!), and if you like the pulp-y texture, feel free to leave it in the custard.
Preheat your oven to 550F (I put it at 450, my oven’s max)
Fill the cupcake tins with the pastry 3/4 each with the custard mix.
Bake about 10-15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!
When the edges are golden and flaky, and the tops are seared, then take it out and enjoy :)
Thaw and roll up the puff pastry, and cut into thumb-size pieces
Place the piece in a cupcake mold so that the cut side is up, and spread them onto all sides, and refrigerate
in 1 pot, heat 1 cup of milk, and in another pot, heat sugar and water and bring it to a boil (do not stir)
while the milk & syrup is heating up,
mix 3 Tbsp of flour with 1/4 cup of cold milk.
Add the warm milk into the bowl, while whisking.
Add the vanilla extract
Add the syrup (sugar+water) into the bowl, while whisking
Add the whisked yolks (5) in, also while mixing well.
grate the orange zest into the bowl (optional). The custard will be pretty thin. That’s how it should be. set it aside.
I let the zest to sit in the custard for 2 hours to let the flavors infuse. Then I filtered out the zest so the mixture is thin and smooth. The orange flavor is optional, you can also use lemon zest (I’ve had the lemon-flavored tarts in Lisbon as well!), and if you like the pulp-y texture, feel free to leave it in the custard.
Preheat your oven to 550F (I put it at 450, my oven’s max)
Fill the cupcake tins with the pastry 3/4 each with the custard mix.
Bake about 10-15 minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!
When the edges are golden and flaky, and the tops are seared, then take it out and enjoy :)
Apparently, depending on the region of Portugal, the degree in which they sear the top is different :) my oven wasn’t hot enough to burn the top, but you should try it!
