I love Portugese tarts. Admittedly I’ve never actually been to Portugal and tried the real thing, but the first time I nicked one off a dessert table at a party my parents dragged me to as a kid, I’ve been in love with them: soft, sweet custard dollopped into a lovely soft but golden pastry… yum. You can see why these quick and easy little treats will become a regular in your repertoire…
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
230ml cream
2/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
Put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan and whisk together. Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth. Place the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 190c. Grease a 12 hole 1/3 cup muffin tin. Cut the pastry sheet in half, put one half on top of the other and set aside for 5 minutes. Roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the log into 12 rounds. Use a rolling pin to roll circles out at approximately 10cm in diameter.
Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until pastry and custard are golden. Leave to cool in the tin and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
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