Portuguese Custard Tarts 🇵🇹

With Portuguese custard tarts selling for $4.50 a piece at a cafe in Subiaco where I frequent with my friends, there is no better reason to make your own for a fraction of the cost, plus you can savour more than just one with your cup of tea/coffee and have plenty to share.  My recipe for these little sweet treats is uncomplicated, made with shop bought frozen puff pastry sheets in a 12-cup muffin tray.  The custard is easy enough to make.  Tip: use an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to transfer the wobbly custard into the cups.  The tarts come out of the oven puffed up with the custard bubbling hot and caramelised around the edges.  You will be waiting impatiently for them to cool down to take a delicious bite, by which time the custard would have settled back down into cute little craters.

Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

• 200g / 7oz sugar
• 80ml / 2.7 fl oz water
• 400ml / 13.5 fl oz milk
• 3 tablespoons cornflour
• 1 tablespoon custard powder
• 4 egg yolks, lightly whisked
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
• 1 teaspoon olive oil or butter for greasing the muffin tray
• 1 teaspoon plain flour for dusting the work surface
• 2 x 25cm / 9.8" square frozen puff pastry sheets

METHOD

1. Place the sugar and water into a medium size saucepan.  Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and become a little syrupy. 
2. In a small bowl, mix cornflour and custard powder with 2 tablespoons milk.  Whisk to form a smooth paste.  
3. Add the remaining milk into the saucepan to mix with the sugar syrup.  Stir to combine.  Heat for 1 minute over medium heat, then stir in the cornflour mixture.  
4. Add egg yolks and vanilla.  Reduce heat to low and continue to stir the mixture until thickened.  (Don't worry if the custard is a little watery at this stage as it will thicken further while baking.)  Transfer the custard to a bowl.  Cover and let cool.
5. Grease muffin tray lightly with olive oil or butter.
6. Thaw frozen pastry sheets until pliable.  Lightly dust a work surface and cut pastry sheets into 12 rounds using 10cm / 4" cookie cutters to fit cups in the muffin tray.
7. Press each piece of pastry down and up onto the sides of the muffin cups.
8. Place the muffin tray lined with the pastry in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to cool. 
9. Fill each pastry cup with cooled custard to ¾ full.  Bake in a preheated 220°C/425°F oven for 25 minutes, or until the custard is set and the shells are golden brown.  Let the tarts rest in the baking tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.