Portuguese Custard Tarts

[filipe]

PatrickS:

Wow, your photo is amazing (as usual) Glad you like them Did you sprinkle some cinamon over them before you ate them?

I'm not very convinced about the result obtained when using cupcake wrappers... how do you spread the puff pastry? you have no surface against which you could press... (some lousy english this last one...sorry)

Ling:

I haven't tryed David Leite's recipe...yet But I will and let you know.

In the meanwhile I am planning to do a step-by-step photo shooting for this recipe next time I'll bake it.

[Patrick S]

I'm not very convinced about the result obtained when using cupcake wrappers... how do you spread the puff pastry? you have no surface against which you could press...

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Actually, its no problem pressing the puff pastry into the wrappers, because they are set inside muffin tins. So the pastry is being pressed agains the muffin tins. My wrappers did have a very slight sticking problem though. You had to peel the wrappers off carefully.

[Varmint]

I've had a Portuguese custard tart much like this, but it was drizzled with some sort of orange-flavored liqueur, such as Cointreau. Was that just this particular restaurant's twist, or is that a standard accompaniment or variation?

[Swisskaese]

I formed the shape of the dough in my palm before I put them in the muffin wrappers. It wasn't a problem at all.

Patrick, your tarts look very nice.

[filipe]

Will bake some tonight and probably will do a step-by-step photo shooting. I guess I will try David Leite's recipe this turn - not the one where he uses heavy cream, but this one -so that I can give Ling my comparing review. As he says on his other recipe with heavy cream, the one I'm baking today that's more similar to the famed pastéis found at the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém.

Edited January 30, 2006 by filipe (log)

[Ling]

Will bake some tonight and probably will do a step-by-step photo shooting. I guess I will try David Leite's recipe this turn - not the one where he uses heavy cream, but this one -so that I can give Ling my comparing review. As he says on his other recipe with heavy cream, the one I'm baking today that's more similar to the famed pastéis found at the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém.

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Ah, I see! So the authentic recipe must include the milk and cinnamon. I will have to give the real recipe a try!

[filipe]

Working on this recipe.

Bring the sugar, cinnamon (I've replaced cinnamon for lemon, just to flavour the syrup, I prefer the fresh cinnamon taste only on the outside, not in the custard itself), and water to a boil in a small saucepan and cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 220°F (100°C). Do not stir.

Meanwhile, in another small saucepan, scald the remaining 1 cup milk.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth. (Instead of 3 Tsp wheat flour I've used 2 Tsp wheat flour + 1 Tsp corn starch)

Whisk the flour mixture into the hot milk.

Pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream into the hot-milk-and-flour mixture, whisking briskly.

Set aside on a cold bowl. Don't forget the yolks should be stired while it's still warm, but I'll go there further.

I've used frozen puff pastry, I didn't make mine.

Overlay the several sheets of puff pastry, rubbing some soft unsalted butter in between them. Make them double their length and then roll then.

Cut it 12 similar pieces.

Put each slice of the puff pastry roll in a previously greased (with unsalted butter) mini-muffin pan and let it rest for 2 hours.

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.

Fill each cup 3/4 full with the slightly warm custard. Bake until the edges of the dough are frilled and brown, about 8 to 9 minutes. (I'll say 15 to 20 minutes at 250ºC)

And this is what you'll get :

I did like the final result, altough it is a bit too sweet. But the custard cooked very well and looked lovely.

[Ling]

^Wow, thanks for the demo! The custard tarts look incredible. Do you prefer the recipe you have in Recipe Gullet? Thanks again...I will have to try these sometime soon!

[filipe]

^Wow, thanks for the demo! The custard tarts look incredible. Do you prefer the recipe you have in Recipe Gullet?  Thanks again...I will have to try these sometime soon!

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As I've told this one is a bit too sweet. But I prefer this one to the one I've posted on eGullet on what concerns to the softness of the custard.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that instead of the 1 1/3cup of milk only I've replaced half of it by cream That, the corn starch and not using the cinnamon stick were the only things I've changed from the original David leite's recipe. Anyway, I've already ate 4 eheh

[Patrick S]

Thanks filipe. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, demos like this are really invaluable.

[filipe]

And here are the ORIGINALs

[Swisskaese]

I am glad that you tried David Leite's recipe. That is the same one I used.

Thank you for the step-by-step instructions. I will have to get muffin tins for my next batch.

I will also try reducing the sugar in the recipe and see what happens, but it will have to wait a while.

[Ling]

The originals look more appealing to me--so soft and custardy!

[Ling]

I made the portuguese custard tarts today...I made a lot of mistakes. Not happy with them. You can see how they souffled up too much in the oven. ARGH....crappy. I'll try them again filipe. I really like the taste of the wheat flour...very different.