Portugal: Pastéis de Nata

Pastéis de Belém, a beloved Portuguese delicacy, trace their origins back to the early 19th century at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém, Lisbon. Monks used egg yolk to make these creamy tarts, while egg white was often used to stiffen clothes. After the monastery closed in 1834, a former monk sold the recipe to a nearby bakery, which still makes it according to tradition today.

Ingrediënts for about 20 tartelettes

• 2 sheets of puff pastry measuring 30 x 40cm
  You get the best results if you make your own puff pastry, but that's a heck of a lot of work. I didn't do that myself either. I bought my puff pastry at Bruyerre. You can buy them per 2 from the freezer. If you do want to make your own puff pastry, you can also buy 'slices of butter' from them, which you then fold between your dough.

For the filling

• 450g white sugar
• 1 litre whole milk
• 170g egg yolks (this is about 11 eggs, depending on the size - break egg per egg, you can make meringue with the egg whites)
• 100g pastry flour
• 1 organic lemon (unsprayed), peeled very thin (without the white). Use only the peel.
• 1 cinnamon stick

Extra requirements: moulds for pastéis de nata. You won't achieve the same result with a muffin tin. I baked mine in a mould for low tarts.

Tried it in two versions: with hole bottom (bought at Bruyère, as they didn't have special pastéis moulds at the moment) and one without a hole bottom.

Preparation

The puff pastry
Defrost the puff pastry in the fridge. Beware: this is very fragile, so be very careful.

Preheat the oven to 240° (or if your oven goes up to 250°, take that).

Take the puff pastry out of the fridge, let it rest for 5 minutes and place it with the long side facing you. Leave the two slices of dough on top of each other.

Then gently roll it up very tightly, just like you would roll your sleeping bag back up to try to get it into the sleeve. The less air in between, the better the result. It's best to start on the left and roll it up bit by bit to the right.

Continue until you have a nice tight roll of dough. If your sides are not so nice, you can cut them off straight. Wrap the roll of dough back in foil and put it back in the fridge.

The filling

Sift the flour into a batter bowl and add the sugar. Mix well with a wooden spoon or even better, your hands, until everything is well mixed. Check carefully that you don't have any lumps.

Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the cinnamon stick and lemon peel. On a low heat, bring the milk to a gentle boil. Once the milk is boiling, add the flour/sugar mixture bit by bit, stirring constantly well with a whisk. Keep stirring well until the mixture is fully incorporated and until your filling has the desired thickness. You can check this by going through it with a spoon to see if you have a streak in the filling for a moment, before it sinks back in.

Then you may turn off the heat and let the filling cool gently.

Meanwhile, split the eggs and weigh out the yolks in a separate jar until you have 170g of yolks. Beat it and set aside until your filling has cooled sufficiently.

If you add the egg yolk when it's too warm, it will solidify and you won't get a nice result. The filling should be about lukewarm. You can measure the temperature to 37° if necessary. Then you can stir in the beaten egg yolk, which will also give the filling a nice yellow colour!

Making the tarts

Take your dough back from the fridge , remove the foil and cut slices from the roll of dough with a very sharp knife. Lay each 'slice of dough' flat in a mould.

Start by cutting 1 slice off, to check if this is enough to fill your baking tin. If your puff pastry roll is thick, the slice of dough you cut off will need to be thinner than if your dough roll is thinner.

You don't need to grease your baking tin. Now try using your thumb to push the dough to the round in one movement, while rotating the mould. This is obviously much easier in separate moulds, than in a muffin tin 'tray'. But sometimes people have to make do with what they have... Try to press the dough as little as possible so that you preserve as much of your layers as possible. The dough should rise to just slightly above the edge.

Remove your lemon peel and cinnamon from your filling and pour the filling into your moulds to just below the edge of your dough so they don't overflow when baking.

Bake them for 13 to 16 minutes at 250°, depending on your oven. But stay with them and be sure to keep an eye on them. Some ovens are hotter on one side than the other, in which case it is best to turn your baking tray for a while. Your pastéis are ready when your dough is crisp and your filling is cooked with dark spots.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool until lukewarm. Then sprinkle them with icing sugar and cinnamon.

Bom apetite!