I was in Byron Bay and went to this rural bakery where I had a Portuguese tart and a coffee. It blew my mind. They were so fresh. The custard was still wobbly and warm. I had to try this at home for myself. Many cafes sell them but rarely are the homemade. The ones the cafes buy in taste very generic and a little uninspiring usually on the counter for hours. Once you try one not long out of the oven your mind will be blown too. This is another dish you can cook if you have multiple people come over as you can cook a dozen at a time prior to their arrival. Or just indulge yourself.
Portuguese Tarts
Course: Blog, DessertsCuisine: PortugueseDifficulty: beginner, Intermediate18
servings30
minutes14
minutes258
kcalIngredients
- The Pastry
1 x 375g sheet Quality all Butter Puff Pastry
1 x 375 sheet Quality Short Pastry
- The Custard
160mls water
250g Caster Sugar
300 mls Milk
30g Plain Flour
1g Salt
6 Egg Yolk
1 TSP Quality Vanilla extract
Directions
- The Pastry and Tart assembly
- Take one sheet of puff pastry and brush some water over it. Take a sheet of short crust pastry and and place on top of the puff. Fold the pastry in half and then half again. Now cut it in half and roll out quite thin using a rolling pin. Then roll the now flat pastry sheet into a pin wheel log and refrigerate for 2 hours
- Pre heat oven 230c FAN FORCED. You will need much hotter if not fan forced set at 275c
- Remove pastry log from the fridge. Trim off any uneven end bits to make the log uniform in size. Cut off 1 slice aprox 1.5cm thick to form a pastry disc you should note a pastry swirl pattern in the middle of the disc.
- Use a medium size non stick muffin tin. Place the pastry disk into the mould try placing the centre of the swirl into the centre of the mould then use your fingers to flatten out the pastry up and around the side of the mould
- Now pour in custard almost to the top. Leave a little room at the top. Place into the middle of the pre heated oven and bake for 14 – 16 minutes. The tops of the tarts should have that
blackened caramelised look of a Portuguese tart. Allow to cool before removing from muffin tin about another 15 mins. - Once cooled down a little, dust with icing sugar and eat warm. Best eaten on the day of baking.
- The Custard
- Put water and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring it up to the boil. Let it simmer, do not stir. Use a thermometer when it reaches 105c remove from heat and let cool
- Add milk to another saucepan bring it up to the boil. When you see the milk bubble and boil up turn off immediately. Now add the flour and salt to the milk whisking until thick. Once thick add the egg yolks and vanilla whisking until smooth.
- Slowly pour the sugar syrup into the milk, flour and egg yolk mix. Whisk constantly to make a smooth and thin custard. No lumps. Sit aside until ready to use. Custard can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for up to three days.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Pour custard through a strainer if there are any lumps
- If you pre make the custard let it come back up to room temperature before baking
- OVEN TEMP. I highly recommend a test run fan forced or not. You may need to experiment with the oven temperature. The cooking time. The pastry thickness. If pastry is too thick the custard will cook before the pastry. If the pastry is too thin the pastry may burn before the custard is cooked. Use you instincts to feel how thin pastry should be. Then test bake to be sure.
- DO NOT over cook the custard as it will curdle. This may happen if oven temperature is too low and you are waiting for the top of the tarts to blacken/caramelise.
