Week 6: Pasteis de Nata

Pasteis de Nata is a Portuguese creation, and (roughly) translates to Custard Tart. I tried one for the first time a couple of years ago, and they are AMAZING. Little bites of sweet, creamy goodness. I would recommend getting some from a proper Portuguese bakery. Or, follow the recipe below and try some homemade!

This recipe is taken from the GBBO website. I've not included the bit for rough puff pastry below, but there are loads of recipes for this floating around (or ready made ones in the shop if you're short on time like I was!)

The Ingredients

300g puff pastry

375ml whole milk

45g plain flour

2 strips of pared lemon zest

1 cinnamon stick

185ml water

375g caster sugar

 7 large egg yolks

The Pastry

1) Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface, into a rectangle measuring 20cm x 30cm

2) Roll the pastry tightly, from the short side, into a log. Cut the log into 12 even sized rounds.

(TOP TIP: lightly press your knife into the roll of pastry to create guidelines for nice and even sized rounds)

 

3) Place one disk into each of the cups of a 12 hold muffin tin. Using wet fingers, carefully press the pastry up the sides with your fingers, working from the centre out, until the pastry pokes over the top. Chill for 20 minutes.

(TOP TIP: Press the middle of the pastry down first, and then spread the sides outwards in order to get the pastries to the appropriate size without holes appearing)

The Custard

4) Pour 375ml of milk into a pan and whisk in 45g of four. Add the 2 strips of lemon zest and cinnamon stick. Bring to a simmer, whisking continuously. Cook until thick and then remove from the heat. (Mine took about 3 minutes to becomes thick, once it started simmering)

5) Tip 185ml of water and 375g of caster sugar into a small pan. Heat gently to melt the sugar. Once the sugar has melted, increase the heat and boil until it the syrup reaches the short thread stage (106'C - 112'C).

(TOP TIP: if you don't have a thermometer, as I don't, you can check whether the short thread stage has been reached by pouring a teaspoon of the syrup into a bowl of cold water. If short threads form, it is ready. If the syrup becomes a ball in the water, you've left it too long)

6) Gradually whisk the boiling syrup into the milk mixture.

7) Put 7 large egg yolks into a bowl. Strain the yolks into the milk mixture, whisking continuously until combined. Place a sheet of clingfilm over the surface and leave to cool. Once cool, remove the strip of lemon zest and cinnamon stick.

(TOP TIP: make sure that the clingfilm is actually touching the custard, as this will prevent skin from forming over it as it cools)

8) Heat the oven to 240'C top/bottom heat. Pour the custard into the pastry cases to 1cm below the top. Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden and crisp, and the custard is bubbling and has brown spots. This took me 20mins. Don't worry if the custard puffs up in the oven, it will settle back down once it is out.

(TOP TIP: sieve the custard into a measuring jug to i) make it nice and smooth; ii) get out any bits of cinnamon that may have broken off when whisking; and iii) make it easier to pour into the pastry cases)

9) Remove the custard tarts from the oven and cool in the tin for 5 mins. Then gently turn out the tarts and transfer them onto a wire rack to cool, before serving.

10) Enjoy!

https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/pauls-pasteis-de-nata/