Pastéis de Nata

Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Crisp, shatter-thin puff pastry shells holding a silky, scorched egg-yolk custard — Portugal's iconic tart, traditionally served warm with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Prep

45 min

Cook

20 min

Total

65 min

Serves

12 tarts

Difficulty

Medium

Recipe ingredients

• •375 g (13 oz) all-butter puff pastry, one block; ready-rolled is fine — use good-quality puff pastry for proper shattering layers
• •200 g (1 cup) caster sugar
• •120 ml (½ cup) water
• •60 g (¼ cup) unsalted butter
• •30 g (¼ cup) plain flour
• •250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
• •5 g 5
• •1 strip lemon peel, wide strip, yellow part only
• •1 small stick cinnamon
• •0.5 g (¼ tsp) fine salt
• •4 large egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg, from refrigerated sources
• •ground cinnamon, to taste, for dusting
• •icing sugar, to taste, for dusting

Steps

1. 1 Make the custard base: in a small saucepan combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil without stirring; cook until it reaches 110°C / 230°F (soft-ball stage).
2. 2 Meanwhile, melt the butter in a separate saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour, and cook 1–2 minutes until pale golden and nutty.
3. 3 Warm the milk in a third saucepan with the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and salt until just steaming; remove from heat.
4. 4 Slowly whisk the hot milk into the butter-flour roux, then return to medium heat and whisk until smooth and thickened to a thin bechamel, about 2–3 minutes; fish out the lemon peel and cinnamon stick.
5. 5 Remove the flour mixture from the heat. Carefully pour the hot sugar syrup into the flour mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly.
6. 6 In a bowl, whisk the 4 yolks plus 1 whole egg. Very gradually ladle about one-third of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly to temper; then whisk the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
7. 7 Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface and refrigerate until completely cold, at least 1 hour (cold custard prevents soggy pastry).
8. 8 Shape the pastry: lightly flour the work surface and roll the puff pastry into a 30 × 40 cm rectangle (about 3 mm thick). Roll it loosely from the short end into a tight log.
9. 9 Slice the log into 12 even rounds, about 2.5 cm thick. Place each round cut-side up between two sheets of parchment and press down with your palm, then use a rolling pin to flatten each into a 12 cm disc.
10. 10 Heat oven to 300°C / 575°F (or as high as your oven will go; a pizza oven is ideal). Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin (about 7 cm diameter) with butter.
11. 11 Press each pastry disc into a muffin cup, nudging it up the sides so the pastry rises 1–2 mm above the rim — the exposed rim chars in the oven and creates the signature blistered top.
12. 12 Fill each shell about two-thirds full with the cold custard (roughly 35–40 g per cup); do not overfill.
13. 13 Bake on the upper rack at 300°C / 575°F for 12–16 minutes until the pastry edges are deeply browned and the custard tops are scorched with dark caramel freckles; the surface should read 88–93°C / 190–200°F in the center.
14. 14 Cool in the tin 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Pastéis de nata are best eaten warm, the day they are baked.
15. 15 Dust with icing sugar and ground cinnamon just before serving.