Food & Wine
Portuguese custard tarts
A traditional Portuguese treat, these custard tarts combine flaky pastry with a creamy custard centre for a mouthful of heaven.
Ingredients:
- 1 large whole egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 115 grams golden caster sugar (an unrefined version of caster sugar, if you can’t find this, substitute with regular or raw caster sugar)
- 400ml full-cream milk
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
Method:
- Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan, and preheat your oven to 180°C (fan-forced).
- In a medium saucepan, combine the egg, yolks, cornflour and sugar. Gradually add the milk until the mixture is even and smooth.
- Place the saucepan over a medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the custard into a glass or ceramic bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.
- Cut the pastry into two even pieces and place one on top of the other. Roll the pastry (lengthways) into a very tight log. Cut the log into 12 even rounds.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each pastry round into a disc of about 10cm and press into the muffin pan.
- Spoon the cooled custard into each pastry cup, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden on top. Allow to cool in the tin for five minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.