Portuguese Custard Tarts, or pastel de nata, have got to be as good a reason as any to get on a plane and head over to Portugal. They seem to vary from place to place, but I think the best one I’ve ever had was after destroying a hog roast sandwich from these fellas at an event down the road from me. I can still taste it now. Insane.
In my (limited) experience, you can tell a good one by the spiral shape of the pastry on the base, and a slightly caramelised skin on top. As you’ll see from the ingredients list, they are pretty rich, but as they’re only small lets not worry too much about that. This recipe makes 12.
Ingredients
3 free-range eggs, yolk only
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
125g golden caster sugar
30g cornflour
225ml double cream
175ml full-fat milk
Pinch of salt, small
1/2 cinnamon stick
