📍 Belém

Pastéis de nata

· Dessert

Portuguese puff-pastry tartlets filled with egg-yolk custard and browned on top.

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Pastéis de nata: Portuguese puff-pastry tartlets filled with egg-yolk custard and browned on top.
Photo: Paul Arps from The Netherlands · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia CommonsPhoto resized, converted to WebP and cropped for display.
⏱ 70 min🍽 12 servings📊 Difficult🏷 Modern variant🌱 Vegetarian
Preparation
30 min
Cooking
25 min
Waiting and resting
15 min

History

Pastéis de nata are part of Portuguese baking and historically associated with Lisbon and Belém. This is a home version, not a bakery’s commercial formula.

Ingredients

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Only numeric quantities at the start of an ingredient are adjusted. Descriptive quantities, seasoning to taste and timings remain unchanged; check them when changing servings.

Preparation

  1. 1

    Heat oven to 240 °C. Roll pastry into a cylinder, cut 12 portions and press into tart molds.

  2. 2

    Mix flour with some cold milk. Heat the remaining milk with cream and sugar; whisk in the flour mixture and cook until thickened.

  3. 3

    Remove from heat. Temper yolks with a few spoonfuls of hot cream, combine and add vanilla.

  4. 4

    Strain and fill molds three-quarters full. Bake 15-20 minutes until pastry is cooked and custard has browned spots.

  5. 5

    Let cool slightly before unmolding and serve with cinnamon.

Cooking tips

  • Do not fill molds to the rim because the custard rises during baking.

References to consult

References provide information about the dish, its context or a technique. Quantities in this version may differ from those in the source.

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