Pastel de Nata are heavenly puff pastry tarts with vanilla cream. They are, not without reason, the most famous and popular dessert in Portugal!
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Taste and Occasion
Have you ever heard of Pastel de Nata? If not, we'll change that today with this easy Portuguese recipe: Cupcakes filled with creamy custard. This is the most popular dessert in Portugal. Even though you can now buy them in some German supermarkets: Making Pastel de Nata yourself is, of course, the better choice! I must admit that I did not know the treat until recently. The Portuguese puff pastry cakes are incredibly delicious - and uncomplicated to prepare.
Ingredients
The foundation is a puff pastry, completely homemade in original Pastel de Nata recipes. I fall back here, however, exceptionally on the prepared alternative from the supermarket. First, small dough circles come into special molds or the molds of a regular muffin tin. Then they are filled with vanilla cream. This consists of an easy pudding made of milk, sugar, starch, and egg yolk. However, you can also use the convenience version and prepare the Portuguese vanilla tarts with custard powder. In this case, the Pastel de Nata then taste a bit more intense vanilla.
Whether my alternative is something like the original Pastel de Nata recipe, I cannot say. There are, as so often, many recipes in circulation that claim to be 😉 … In some, there is crème fraîche, in others, sugar syrup, in some, there are 8 egg yolks in the cream, in others, only 2 (whole) eggs.
How to make the Pastel de Nata
First of all, preheat the oven to 460°F/230°C, unroll the puff pastry roll, cut it in half and put two layers on top of each other. After this, form the "double puff pastry" into a roll and cut the roll into about 10-12 slices with a sharp knife. Unlike cutting with a glass or similar, there are no dough scraps here.
For the cream, beat the eggs well in a bowl. Now, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornflour or custard powder in a cup. Bring the remaining milk to a boil in a saucepan with the sugar and vanilla sugar. Then, add the mixed starch, stir well, and cook briefly over medium heat to form a pudding. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. After that, gradually stir in the egg yolks. Flatten each snail slightly with your hands and place it in the troughs of a lightly greased muffin tin.
Spoon the cream into the cavities (not all the way to the edge). Bake cupcakes for about 12 minutes until they darken on the surface and caramelize. Best eaten while still lukewarm, dusted with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar, for example. Enjoy!
Top Tip
Nata, by the way, means cream. So often, a pastel de nata like this is lush, sweet, and creamy. I use less sugar and whole milk. Of course, it still tastes tempting! The characteristic of Portuguese puff pastry cakes is their appearance. Admittedly, at first glance, it is not precisely classically the "best thing" 😉 . When baked at a comparatively high temperature, the surface caramelizes (a bit like crème brûlée). The pastel are thus somewhat black - and also collapse after baking.
Recipe Card
Pastel de Nata
Ingredients
- 275 grams (1 ⅕ cups) puff pastry, 1 roll
- 250 milliliters (1 cups) whole milk
- 100 grams (½ cup) sugar
- 1 small bag bourbon vanilla sugar
- 30 grams (4 tablespoons) cornstarch, or vanilla pudding powder
- 4 egg yolks, medium
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 460°F/230°C. Unroll the puff pastry roll, cut it in half and put two layers on top of each other. Form the "double puff pastry" into a roll. Cut the roll into about 10-12 slices with a sharp knife. Unlike cutting with a glass or similar, there are no dough scraps here.
- For the cream, beat the eggs well in a bowl. Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornflour or custard powder in a cup. Bring the remaining milk to a boil in a saucepan with the sugar and vanilla sugar. Then, add the mixed starch, stir well, and cook briefly over medium heat to form a pudding. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Then gradually stir in the egg yolks.
- Flatten each snail slightly with your hands and place it in the troughs of a lightly greased muffin tin.
- Spoon the cream into the cavities (not all the way to the edge). Bake cupcakes for about 12 minutes until they darken on the surface and caramelize. Best eaten while still lukewarm, dusted with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar, for example.
Ingredient substitutions
Variations
The Pastel de Belém, as they are also called, taste best still lukewarm with some cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. But they can also be frozen well. By the way: If you like pudding as we do, you should also try my strawberry pudding cake.
About Kathrin & Jan
It's like a little miracle to me every time. Seemingly simple ingredients are made into something that can brighten up your life. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour melt into an airy biscuit, a fine tart, a juicy cake, or a crispy biscuit. Baking simply makes you happy. Welcome and enjoy our blog!
Kathrin & Jan
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