Pastel de Nata
Lisbon’s custard tarts: spiral puff pastry shells, cinnamon-lemon custard, and an oven turned to its absolute maximum for the famous char.
- prep
- 45 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total
- 1 h
- serves
- 12
- level
- hard
The bakeries of Belém guard their recipe, but the home method is settled: puff pastry rolled into a log and sliced, so each tart shell is a spiral that bakes into shattering rings, filled with a custard built on cinnamon-lemon syrup.
The blistered top is not optional and not a broiler trick. It comes from the hottest oven you can produce; natas bake at temperatures that would murder any other pastry.
Pastel de Nata is one of the world's classic dishes from 67 countries.
method
Boil the sugar, water, cinnamon stick and lemon peel to 100°C, about 3 minutes of real boiling, and set the syrup aside.
Whisk the flour into a third of the cold milk until smooth. Scald the rest of the milk, whisk it in, and cook for a minute until thick.
Pour the hot syrup (peel and stick removed) into the milk mixture in a thin stream, whisking. Cool 10 minutes, then whisk in the yolks and vanilla and sieve the custard.
Roll the pastry sheet up into a tight log and slice into 12 rounds. Press each round, spiral facing up, into a muffin tin, thumbing it thin up the sides.
Heat the oven to its maximum, 250°C (480°F) or more, rack near the top.
Fill the shells three-quarters full and bake 11 to 13 minutes, until the pastry is deep gold and the custard blistered with dark spots.
Cool 10 minutes, dust with cinnamon, and eat warm. This is the law.
chef's tips
- The spiral trick is the whole pastry secret: slicing the rolled log gives you the ringed, flaky shell.
- Max heat, top rack, no fear. Pale natas are failed natas.
- They are at their peak for about two hours; bake them the day you want them.