Portuguese custard tarts
Delicate Portuguese puff pastry shells filled with vanilla custard scented with lemon zest and cinnamon, baked until golden and finished with a dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon.
Pasos
- 1
Roll the pastry, dust the work surface with flour and icing sugar, roll to a 45 x 30 cm rectangle, then roll lengthways to form a long sausage.
- 2
Cut the pastry into 24 rounds about 1-2 cm thick.
- 3
Roll out each pastry portion and fit into two 12-hole fairy cake tins.
- 4
Press pastry circles into the tins to form thin cases; chill until needed.
- 5
Make the infused syrup: preheat the oven to 220C; bring sugar, 200 ml water, lemon zest and cinnamon stick to the boil and reduce until syrupy; allow to cool, then remove the cinnamon and lemon. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and cornflour in another pan until smooth.
- 6
Make custard: heat the milk with vanilla seeds until just below the boil; gradually pour the hot milk over the eggs and cornflour, then cook on low heat, whisking continually.
- 7
Add the cooled sugar syrup to the custard and whisk until thickened slightly.
- 8
Pour custard into the tins: sieve the custard and fill pastry cases; bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the custard has darkened.
- 9
Cool completely in the tins, then sift over icing sugar and ground cinnamon to serve.
