Justin requested some of these Portuguese custard tarts after seeing Bruno Pinho make them on TV recently.
We strongly recommend that you give them a try too – they’re absolutely delicious!
In 2012, Bruno appeared in the Welsh village of Caerleon and opened a bakery.
Can you imagine the joy of a new bakery opening in your town and trays of these delicious looking tarts appearing in the shop window?
If you don’t happen to have a Portuguese bakery where you live, fear not – they’re very makable at home… the recipe is quite straightforward, but does need following properly to get perfect results.
You can make your own puff pastry if your really keen, but we got excellent results using ready made.
The custard tartlets look lovely with their shiny golden brown finish – and they weren’t left to cool for long before we had to try one…then two… then three… then four!!
The cinnamon and vanilla come through well, but don’t over-power. The lemon stops them being cloying or claggy. They’re best eaten on the day, but we guarantee that this wont be a problem.
Crispy puff pastry and a sweet, moist filling… did we mention that they were delicious?
Try them yourself – we’ve added it to Pinterest
Portuguese custard tarts
Ingredients
for the sugar syrup
- 250 g/9oz caster sugar
- 1 stick cinnamon
- peel of ½ a lemon
for the filling
- 25 g/1oz plain flour plus extra for dusting
- 12 g cornflour
- 300 ml/10½fl oz milk
- 4 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg
- seeds from one vanilla pod
- 300 g/10½oz ready-made, all-butter puff pastry
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to at least 230ºC/210ºC fan/450ºF/Gas mark 8
- For the sugar syrup, bring the sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind to the boil in a saucepan with 250ml/9fl oz water. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering, then simmer for 3 minutes. Set the syrup aside until completely cool. Once cool, discard the cinnamon stick and lemon rind
- For the custard filling, mix the flours together in a bowl. Pour in a little bit of milk and stir until any lumps are removed
- Bring the rest of the milk to the boil in a saucepan over low heat, stirring regularly
- Gradually add the boiled milk to the flour mixture and whisk for 1 minute, or until smooth and well combined
- Slowly whisk in the sugar syrup until well combined
- Whisk in the egg yolks, whole egg and vanilla seeds until smooth and well combined. Set aside
- Roll out the pastry onto a lightly-floured work surface into a rectangle measuring approximately 50x30/20x12in; but more importantly, to a thickness of 1mm
- With the longest edge of the pastry rectangle facing you, roll the pastry as tightly as possible, brushing it from right to left with water as you go. Cut the pastry roll into 2cm/¾in-thick discs that are ¼ larger than the holes of your muffin tin
- Place the discs over the holes of your muffin tin and press them down firmly to the bottom & sides
- Fill each pastry cases with the custard until they are almost, but not quite, full
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry has risen and the surface of the custard is scorched
- Set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving to allow the custard to set slightly