Pastel de Nata

Once you have your pastry to the point where it could be worked with (meaning, once all the turns and chilling are done or the package is defrosted) the first step is to create the roll that allows for the small, round tarts. Lightly flour a clean work surface and place your dough on it so that one of the short sides of the rectangle is facing you.

Begin to roll out the dough, working from the center and maintaining the rectangular shape. If the dough gets soft, gently lift it onto some plastic wrap, cover it, and put it in the fridge long enough to chill again.

Roll out the dough until it is about a ¼ inch thick, still in a rectangular shape with the short side facing you.

Starting at the end facing you, begin to roll up the dough as you would roll a cigar. You should be creating a log shape with a spiral pattern on the ends. If you have no idea what I am talking about than try to picture a roll of wrapping paper and figure out how to recreate that with the dough. If you still have no idea than send me a message about how lousy of a recipe writer I am and go make something else.

Once you have your log-shaped dough, wrap it in plastic and chill it in the fridge while you make and cool the custard.

In a large saucepan combine the egg yolks, heavy cream, milk, sugar, flour and salt and whisk until there are no lumps.

Add the vanilla, cinnamon stick and the orange and lemon peels.

Place the saucepan on low heat and continue to whisk gently. You do not want to heat this too much as the eggs with begin to scramble. Be sure to watch your sides and bottom to make sure no burning is happening.

Gently whisk over low heat until the mixture is thickened to about the consistency of a loose pudding, then turn off the heat.

Gently place a sheet of cling wrap directly onto the surface of the custard. This is to prevent the custard from forming a film.

Let the custard cool completely, then remove the cinnamon and citrus peels and cover with cling wrap again.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

As said, I use a large muffin tray for this, but you can use whatever works for you. Whatever you choose, give it a very light coating of butter, because you can never have too much butter and this help get any stuck-on custard off later. (This might be a completely unnecessary step, but I have always done it so I included it.)

Remove your dough from the fridge and unwrap it. Place it on a cutting board or knife-safe surface so that the long side of the roll is facing you, or so that it is positioned horizontally.

Using a sharp knife begin cutting the roll into ¼ inch slices. You should see a spiral pattern in each slice. If the butter has softened by the time you are finished than wrap them and put them in the fridge again to chill for 15 minutes or so.

Now, how to explain this… Your goal is to make a “cup” with the slices. I do this by holding a slice in both hands (your hands shaped like a duck hand-puppet) and pushing the center of the spiral (the inside of the slice) away from me. Then I begin turning and pinching the slice, working quickly, until it is as thin as I can get it and still have it hold some kind of cup-like shape. It is very floppy and about 1/4 to 1/8th of an inch. Does that make sense? If not, just figure out how to make a cup with the slice, or, get creative and do something else.

As you make each “cup” gently put them in the muffin tray or whatever you are using to hold the tarts.

Once you have the muffin tray full of cups, remove the plastic wrap from the chilled custard and give it a gentle stir.

Fill each pastry “cup” with the custard so that there is about a ½ inch of space left at the top

Once you have all your tarts filled, put them in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the custard is set. Getting the browning to happen on the custard is tricky, and I have usually had to leave it in longer, which can mess up the pastry. I would love suggestions on that part, if anyone reads this and has ideas.

Cool on a rack and dust with cinnamon and confectioners sugar.