Portuguese egg custard tarts p.286/287

Made and tasted already !
Very silky smooth and certainly moresish :)

You can look at my account of making puff pastry for the pithvier I made in February.

It takes about a couple hours to actually makes but 2 overnight chills plus rolling out several times.

Use 300gms of puff pastry.

But first make the custard by whisking 60gms of the sugar with the egg yolks, cornflour and salt, in a bowl, together until smooth and combined.  Put aside.

Put the milk into a saucepan with the split half vanilla pod and cinnamon stick - ring to the boil then remove from the heat.  Pour a quartere of it to the mix - whisk it as you pour it in.
Return it to the boiled milk in the saucepan.

Put it back and heat gently, stirring continuously until it thickens.  Immediately take it off the heat and beat it for a little while to get rid of any lumps.  Then pass it through a sieve which will catch the cinnamon and vanilla.  Put it in a bowl and place a disc of baking parchment over the top to prevent a skin from forming as it cools.  It must cool completely.

Roll out your puff pastry on a surface which has been lightly floured.  Create a rectangle anout 30 cms X 20 cms.  Roll it up as you would a swiss role.  Cut it twelve even sections then roll each one and press into the lightly buttered muffin tin.  Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees.  Line pastry cases with a square of baking parchment and baking beans or pasta.  Bake blind for 8-10 mins.  Then remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for a couple of minutes to dry the bases.
Remove and set aside.
Lower the temperature to 160 degrees.

Whisk the egg white in a clean bowl until you have stiff peaks - then gradually add the remaining sugar.  Gently fold this mix into the cold custard.  You must then pour / spoon this combined mixture into the puff pastry cases 3/4 full.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is cooked and the custard is puffed up.

Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Heaven on a plate.

Oh dear ... can't seem to upload my photos from my phone .... help !

Well rest assured they are deliciously moreish even though I can't load the photos I took - you'll just have to make them instead of eating them with your eyes :)