Portuguese egg tarts
Portuguese egg tarts (Pastel de nata) are not only popular in Portugal, but have also become Macau’s edible icon.
It takes a few hours to make the puff pastry, luckily there is an option of using frozen puff pastry sheets.
Time needed when using puff pastry：
3.5 hours
Time needed when using frozen puff pastry：
1 hour
Ingredients (4 pcs)：
A. Homemade puff pastry
All purpose flour 50g
Water 25ml
Softened butter 40g
Salt
B. Frozen puff pastry sheet 1 pc
C. Filling
Sugar 50g
Water 25ml
Cinnamon stick 1 pc (I use cinnamon powder instead)
Lemon peel 1 pc
Egg yolks 2pcs
All purpose flour 8g
Milk 100ml
Vanilla essence a dash
How to make puff pastry：
1. Mix all ingredients of A, except butter
2. Knead the dough for 5 minutes until a tight surface forms
3. Cover the dough with a cloth and rest for 20 minutes
4. Flour the table top, put the dough on the table and flour the dough a bit, then roll out a rectangular sheet of 3-4mm thickness
5. Spread 1/3 butter on 2/3 surface area of the sheet, leaving the top without butter
6. Fold the top (without butter) over to the lower part
7. Then fold the lower part over to the top
8. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll out a rectangular sheet again of 3-4mm thickness. Repeat step 5
9. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll out a rectangular sheet, and spread the sheet with the remaining butter, leaving a narrow rim on top. Spread water on the rim
10. Roll up from the bottom, wrap with plastic film and put the buttered roll into the fridge for two hours
How to use the frozen puff pastry：
1. Thaw the frozen puff pastry sheet, roll it up and freeze it again for 30 minutes until firm
How to make lemon cinnamon syrup：
1. Heat 50g sugar and 25ml water in a pot
2. Add lemon peel and cinnamon stick / powder into the pot, stir and heat until sugar melts completely
3. Turn off the heat, strain the syrup to remove the peel and the cinnamon stick, cool down
How to make filling：
1. Mix 1/3 milk and flour
2. Heat the remaining milk in a pot and bring it to boil, then add the milk mixture, cook for 3 minutes until it reduces
3. Turn off the heat. Add the syrup and vanilla essence, mix well
4. When the milk mixture cools down a bit, add egg yolks and mix well
How to make the tarts：
1. Preheat the oven to 230°C
2. Take out the puff pastry roll from the fridge, cut it into 4 equal pieces
3. Put the puff pastry into the centre of the mould, push down with your thumb and flatten the pastry equally onto the mould
4. Pour the filling into the pastry shells, bake in the oven at 230°C for 20 minutes
