Portuguese Custard Tart

Egg tarts are always on the top of my priorities when I go Dim-Sum with my parents. The flaky crust and the warm gooey custard are just perfect compliments of each other! Of course, I had to try this Portuguese version of egg tarts when I spotted it on Foodgawker.

When looking back at the recipe while typing this post, I confirmed that I had messed up on the puff pastry cases. Aha! I sort of knew it when I still had lots of puff pastry left after making 12 cases. Instead of rolling the puff pastry into a log after layering, I just used a small cup and cut out circles and flatten them to fit the muffin pans.. I had no idea why I ignored the two most important steps in the recipe. But luckily, the tarts still came out fine. A bit thin if I should say. Mhm.. on the light side, I got to to kill two birds (tart and palmier) with one stone (1 sheet of puff pastry). So.. yay?



Portuguese Custard Tart
recipe adapted from Almost Bourdain
-makes 12 (or 16 in my case)

3 egg yolks
115 g (4 oz or 1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
230 ml (7 3/4 fl oz ) cream
170 ml (5 1/2 fl oz or 2/3 cup) milk
2 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry

For the custard:
Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan.
Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.
Place the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skim forming and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin pan.

For the pastry cases:
(Check out Ooh, Look... for a detailed step by step photos for preparing the cases.)
Cut the pastry sheet in half, put one half on top of the other
Set aside for 5 minutes.
Roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the pastry log into twelve 1 cm (1/2 inch) rounds.
Lay each pastry round on a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter.
Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin.

Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard are golden.
Leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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4 stars out of 5. They custards were a tab bit too sweet and the tarts were too thin to give that full flaky quality (I think I might be bias toward the tarts because now I know I did messed up). My parents also noted that they might be greasy and not "light" and "airy." I believe the preparation of the pastry cases are crucial to the overall outcome (since 50% of the tart is comprised of pastry!). I got to have a re-do on this. Soon.