Pastéis de Nata

Classic Portuguese custard tarts with flaky puff pastry and a creamy vanilla pudding filling — crispy on the outside, silky smooth on the inside.

Servings: 12(less/more) | Prep: 10 min | Bake: 35 min | Total: 45 min

Ingredients

• 280 g puff pastry (1 roll, refrigerated)
• 1 vanilla pod
• 400 ml milk
• 120 g sugar
• 3 egg yolks (medium)
• 30 g cornstarch
• Butter, for greasing the pan
• Flour, for the work surface

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C. Grease the cavities of a muffin tin. Unroll the puff pastry and remove the paper. Roll the pastry up again, then cut the roll into twelve equal pieces. Place each piece cut-side down on a lightly floured surface and roll out into a round circle (approx. 10 cm diameter). Press the circles into the muffin cavities.
2. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a knife. Whisk the seeds with 300 ml of the milk, the sugar, and the egg yolks in a saucepan. Stir the cornstarch into the remaining 100 ml of milk until smooth. Heat the milk-egg mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. Just before it comes to a boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring, until the pudding begins to bubble.
3. Spoon the pudding into the pastry cups. Bake on the middle rack for about 35 minutes ••• . Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack, then lift the pastéis out.

Nutrition (per serving)