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Portuguese Custard Tarts

filipe
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Swisskaese

Swisskaese

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Bom dia Filipe.

We had a cook-off for Dan Tarts which you may be familiar with as the Chinese custard tarts that are based on the Portuguese custard tarts. Maybe we should do a cook-off for Portuguese tarts.

Dan Tart Cook-off

Here is a recipe that is similar to the famous Antiga Confeitaria de Belém tarts:

Portuguese Custard Tarts

Yours look very nice.

I have tried the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém tarts and they are to die for.

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filipe

filipe

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Bom dia Filipe.

We had a cook-off for Dan Tarts which you may be familiar with as the Chinese custard tarts that are based on the Portuguese custard tarts. Maybe we should do a cook-off for Portuguese tarts.

I have tried the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém tarts and they are to die for.

That would be great! That way more and more people would know these delights.

I've found several recipe versions for the custard. The one I've posted it's the one i think as the best quality-dificulty ratio.

For sure that a huge part of their success has to do with the puff pastry. But that would take people a lot of time to do. By using frozen puff pastry the results are not that bad. The secret is about the way you work the puff pastry more than on the puff pastry itself.

About the custard... I've seen a lots of possible recipes. I've tried 3 or 4. Until now this one is the one that produces more faithfull results. Some steps behind the original Belém's tarts... but some steps ahed many of the industrial types one have a chance to get at other pastry shops and cafes.

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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filipe

filipe

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What is the secret with working with the puff pastry?

By instinct you look at these tarts and think about cutting circles of puff pastry and just fill the muffin pans with them, right? That's what you souldn't do. You should not use flat pieces of puff pastry but small slices cutted from a bigger piece of rolled puff pastry.

As David Leite says in his recipe (the one you've linked before) this is what you should do:

Roll the puff pastry back and forth on a lightly floured surface until it's about an inch in diameter and 16 inches long. Cut it into scant 3/4-inch pieces. Place a piece cut-side down in each well of a nonstick 24-cup mini-muffin pan (2-by-5/8-inch size). Allow the dough pieces to soften several minutes until pliable.

Have a small cup of water nearby. Dip your thumbs into the water, then straight down into the middle of the dough spiral. Flatten it against the bottom of the cup to a thickness of about 1/8 inch, then smooth the dough up the sides and create a raised lip about 1/8 inch above the pan. The pastry sides should be thinner than the bottom.

Edited by filipe (log)

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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Swisskaese

Swisskaese

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Posted
What is the secret with working with the puff pastry?

By instinct you look at these tarts and think about cutting circles of puff pastry and just fill the muffin pans with them, right? That's what you souldn't do. You should not use flat pieces of puff pastry but small slices cutted from a bigger piece of rolled puff pastry.

As David Leite says in his recipe (the one you've linked before) this is what you should do:

Roll the puff pastry back and forth on a lightly floured surface until it's about an inch in diameter and 16 inches long. Cut it into scant 3/4-inch pieces. Place a piece cut-side down in each well of a nonstick 24-cup mini-muffin pan (2-by-5/8-inch size). Allow the dough pieces to soften several minutes until pliable.

Have a small cup of water nearby. Dip your thumbs into the water, then straight down into the middle of the dough spiral. Flatten it against the bottom of the cup to a thickness of about 1/8 inch, then smooth the dough up the sides and create a raised lip about 1/8 inch above the pan. The pastry sides should be thinner than the bottom.

I think I understand now. You actually roll it out, then you roll it back up and cut slices from the rolled puffed pastry and then "dip your thumbs into water....".

Ok. I am going to try this this weekend and I will take pictures.

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tarteausucre

tarteausucre

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The Portuguese Custard tarts in the Chinese bakeries in Vancouver are good ... but are nothing like the extraordinary ones at Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon. I think the major difference is the pastry - the pastry is distinct to the tart itself - it's not puff pastry and certainly not the pastry they use in the Chinese bakeries. Even the other bakeries in Lisbon can't touch the Belem ones. I made them once at home and they turned out decently.

I have dreams about those tarts in Lison - especially one day when we went both before and after lunch to have them :)

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

~ Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Tara Lee

Literary and Culinary Rambles

http://literaryculinaryrambles.blogspot.com

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ablosh

ablosh

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Oh my gawsh! I love those egg tarts here! There's a specialty bakery famous in our city for baking them...they're called Lord Stow's. One bite into them and my mouth is flooded with yellow goodness. Love them!

Some chinese restaurants here offer these goodies too... A few gets the light texture right...but others make them dense and almost-jello. Does anyone know a connection or explanation why these Portugese tarts ended up on Chinese menus?

I am in the process of fulfilling a dream, one that involves a huge stainless kitchen, heavenly desserts and lots of happy sweet-toothed people.
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filipe

filipe

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Does anyone know a connection or explanation why these Portugese tarts ended up on Chinese menus?

Maybe due to Macau, a portuguese territory, near Hong Kong, given to the portuguese by the chinese on the 16th century, which returned to China in 1999.

Maybe during all those centuries of portuguese administration and influence some recipes were trade eheh

But that's just a hint... not sure about that

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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kitwilliams

kitwilliams

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Count me in for any testing of recipes...I've never had these in Portugal -- only at Lisboa Patisserie in London. I followed the technique suggestion for the rolling and slicing the puff pastry and it produces the perfect crust cup. It's the custard that I have yet to perfect so am totally looking forward to trying your recipe, filipe. Thanks for starting this thread!

kit

"I'm bringing pastry back"

Weebl

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filipe

filipe

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As I've told you there are many many versions for the custard. I've posted 4 of them at Clotilde's "Chocolate & Zucchini" forums. You can check them if you want to (it's easier and maybe less confusing than to"recipeGullet" all of them)

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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kitwilliams

kitwilliams

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As I've told you there are many many versions for the custard. I've posted 4 of them at Clotilde's "Chocolate & Zucchini" forums. You can check them if you want to (it's easier and maybe less confusing than to"recipeGullet" all of them)

Which do you feel is the most authentic, filipe?

kit

"I'm bringing pastry back"

Weebl

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filipe

filipe

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Which do you feel is the most authentic, filipe?

The one I feel (until now) most authentic is the one I've posted on RecipeGullet

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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Swisskaese

Swisskaese

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I made the Portuguese Tarts tonight and I had a few problems. I used the recipe from David Leite's site..

Firstly, I don't have a candy thermometer, so I wasn't exactly sure if the sugar syrup was at 200F. So, when I made the custard it was very runny. I decided to put it back on the stove and cook it, whisking the entire time, until the mixture coated the back of a spoon.

Secondly, I put my oven on as high as it would go 240C, but I put it on grill instead of bake and it only baked the top part, the bottom crust is not done. :sad:

So, I am going to put them back in the oven on high with the bottom heat element and see if I can cook the underside or I may have to try again.

Here is how they turned out:

gallery_8006_298_190312.jpg

I tasted one and it tasted very good. However, I think I will cut the amount of sugar next time. It is a little too sweet for my taste. I couldn't taste the cinnamon at all.

Edited by Swisskaese (log)
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filipe

filipe

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I tasted one and it tasted very good. However, I think I will cut the amount of sugar next time. It is a little too sweet for my taste. I couldn't taste the cinnamon at all.

TASTE THE CINNAMON? you only use the cinnamon to sprinle them after they've come out from the oven, not while making of the custard

Try my recipe, with that one you won't have problems with the sugar.

Filipe A S

pastry student, food lover & food blogger

there's allways room for some more weight

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Swisskaese

Swisskaese

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The recipe I used has a cinnamon stick boiling in the sugar syrup. I haven't put the cinnamon and icing sugar on it yet because I need to cook them a little bit longer on the bottom.

I will try your recipe.

I used puff pastry.

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Swisskaese

Swisskaese

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Michelle,

Did you bake your custard tarts in the cupcake wrappers?

Yes, I did and suprisingly they did not stick. I don't have a mini muffin tin, so I had to improvise a bit. I would recommend making them in a mini-muffin tin or put the tarts in the cupcake wrappers and place those in a muffin tin. It will help them keep their shape.

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Patrick S

Patrick S

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I made custard tarts using filipe's recipe last night, and they were quite good. I ate three last night, which is unusual for me. They're still pretty good the next day. I added about 1t vanilla to the custard. I baked them, in regular-sized muffin cups, at 550F for about 9 minutes, then turned on the broiler for a minute to brown the top.

gallery_23736_355_19625.jpg

Thanks for sharing the recipe, filipe.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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Ling

Ling

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filipe: I had been using the recipe from Leite's Culinaria which specifies cream and yolks, no wheat flour and no milk. What do you think of that recipe? :smile:

(The recipe you posted is similar to my recipe for Chinese egg tarts...although mine doesn't have wheat flour and is a ligher custard since it uses milk and water.)

Lorna Yee

the cool kids at belltown lofts

The Cookbook Chronicles

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