Portuguese custard tart
These little beauties are in most bakeries and if you are a Vida fan you will probably have had them before and nowadays, with prepared pastry being freely available in the frozen food section of the supermarket you can whip up a batch in about 45 minutes.(makes 8 to 10)
What you need
400g frozen puff pastry thawed
Filling
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons maizena (corn flour)
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
The process
If you don’t have the individual patty tins, a muffin tin works just as well. None of those silicone muffin trays, it must be a metal one. Spray well with spray and cook or butter thoroughly.
Dust a surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it is very thin, about 3mm thick
all over.
Cut into 10 or 12cm circles depending on the size of your tins and place into the tins so
that the pastry comes up the sides of the tin and set aside.
Filling
In a pot over a low heat add the water and sugar and stir until the sugar has completely
dissolved, simmer for a further minute or 2 while you continue.
Mix the maizena with a little of the milk to form a paste. In bowl add all of the milk and
the maizena paste and add to the sugar, whisk and add the egg yolks and vanilla, whisk
again thoroughly and simmer stirring constantly until the custard thickens.
Remove from heat, and place a piece of clingfilm over the top to prevent a skin from
forming and leave to cool.
Heat the oven to 200 Celsius.
Fill the pastry shells to 3/4 full and place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top of
the custard is golden brown and firm to the touch.
Yummy….
Try the portuguese Trinchado recipe
Hello Graham, these little hummers were a great hit with my kids, they were all eaten in matter of minutes! Easy and delishes, I also mixed a few with some lemon juice. Thanks for great tea-time/any time treat!
Fantastic renee and thank you so much for the lemon tip, will be giving that a try as I simply love lemon meringue pie and seldom wait until it’s cold. Happy days G
Hey Graham, tried these last night and they came out fanstastic. Really very nice.
I waited until they were brown and then took them out so it also went more than 20 minutes, but then all ovies are different, Something that worried me is that I filled them 3/4 and found that they were threatening to bubble over in the oven, one actually did a little bit, after they were done, I took them out and the custard shrunk back. I want more custart, the filling must be full, so what now, do I buy bigger muffin pans as I have the medium ones, and put the pastry half way up and fill up where the pastry ends? or what do you advise..
thanks for the great receipe.
Regards
sharon
Hey Sharon, that’s so good to hear and I feel your frustration with the custard but that is how they are, if you look at a Fourno’s or any great bakery you will see they are all the same.. Can’t think of anything that would fill them unless you added a bit of cream or something once cooled. Have a lekker day. G
Hi Graham,
I want to use filo pastry instead of puff pastry – how can the recipe be adapted for this?
Hi Betty, It won’t need any adaption, use the process using filo, cheers for now G
Just came across your site:)Lovely recipes…I am Portuguese and this looks amazing!
xxxx
These tarts are so divine. Tried them for the first time yesterday. But I need abit of advice. When its just out the oven, the pastry is perfect and crisp, but after a while pastry gets soft. How do I prevent it getting soft?
Hi Darsan, the pastry will get a little softer as they cool bet the exterior should remain crisp. The only thing I can think of is that the custard is a little undercooked. Try baking them for a few minutes longer, say 5 minutes or so. Glad you enjoyed G 🙂
Hi Graham,
I have made them yesterday again, left them in the oven for a longer time (35 minutes), they just started with a brown patch here and there, so should I bake them even longer than 35 minutes? Your recipe only said 20 minutes. Please help?!
Only read your second comment now. It definitely sounds like your oven temp is a little off, they can be tempramental and after 35 minutes if they are not overdone, that indicates a temp issue. Try turn the temp up 10 degrees next time or follow my advice below. Cheers for now G
Hi Graham,
When we bake this, it does not go brown on top. Are we doing something wrong? The colour is very pale (light), but it does taste right!
Thanks,
Esmé
Hi Esme, it sounds like your oven temp is perhaps a little lower than it should be. If the texture is right, the flavour right, just put the grill on to brown them for a minute or so, keep an eye on them!!. Have a lekker day G
Thanks so much for your reply to my message Graham, I will definitely try what you suggested. Will let you know once I tried that.
Have a wonderful week!
Kind regards,
Esmé
You are welcome Esme, and a fabulous week to you too. Cheers G
Hi,
I made these this afternoon and it was a huge hit with my family. Priceless recipe. Graham you are God sent.
Thanks
Shalen
Thanks Shalen, have a fantastic day G
Hi. I made the Portuguese tarts yesterday and oh my gosh!!! They came out perfect! I normally buy them from Woolworths or a Fournos bakery, but now I’ll just make them myself. Thanks for the easy recipe!
Woohoo, great Alma they are always better home made. Have a wonderful day G
Hi Graham
How long in advance can I make the Custard tarts?
Hi Gina, they are always best same day but I wouldn’t make them much more than a day in advance. Cheers G
Graham. Help, please! My boss decided that to cut down on costs each of us have to provide something for the management meetings instead of ordering out. I have to make muffins … and I am awful at baking! Please, please could you provide easy muffin recipes, which are fool proof (or Carrie proof) and that taste good. I am never going to live up to Woolies muffins which I can no longer charge to my corporate card!
Hi Carrie, scones are great.. you can have them with jams etc for mornings or with cheese mid morning, quick and easy..
https://cookbook.co.za/baking/breakfast-scones/
I make muffins but not that often. here is an apple cinnamon muffin recipe.
https://cookbook.co.za/baking/apple-cinnamon-muffins/
Cheers for now
Hey Graham
Please tell me what the difference is in patty pans and muffin tins. Is patty pans the the ones that are shallow and smaller than the muffins pans? Thanks
Hi, the patty tins are individual moulds and are about 7cm deep, not trays. Cheers G