It's Saturday afternoon and I have not a lot to do. A real rarity here . . . I decided to make my Todd a real treat.
He just loves Custard Tarts. You know the kind . . . eggy and dusted with lots of nutmeg.
I didn't want to make those.
I wanted to make these. Portugese Custard Tarts. The cadillac of custard tarts . . . in my opinion.
All rich and custardy . . . with just the faintest hint of lemon . . .
encased in buttery, flakey puff pastry . . .
Why settle for less I ask???
Why indeed . . .
*Portuguese Custard Tarts*
Makes six
Printable Recipe
It only takes three letters to describe these delectable little creations W-O-W!! Try them for yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about! Very quick and easy to make, and very impressive . . .
1 (9 1/4 X 10) inch sheet of puff pastry, thawed (about 9 ounces)
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 TBS cornflour
the finely grated zest of 1 lemon
a pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 260*C/500*F. Take the puff pasty and roll it into as tight a coil as you can, starting from the short side. Cut the coil into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. Put the pieces, cut sides down, into six muffin cups. Wet your fingers with a bit of cold water and press the pastry over the bottoms and up the sides to make a thin shell. It's ok if they extend a bit beyond the rim. Put into the freezer to chill while you make the custard.
Whisk the egg yolks, cream, sugar, cornflour, lemon zest and salt together in a medium saucepan. Place over medium high heat and cook, whisking constantly until the custard begins to thicken. This will take about 6 1/2 minutes. It will look quite thin until you have been wisking for about six minutes and then in the last 30 seconds will thicken just enough, like magic! It should be as thick as lemon curd. You don't need to boil it.
Remove your muffin tin from the freezer and divide the custard equally among the prepared tartlet shells. (If you are using a 12 cup muffin tin, fill the empty cups half full of water so they don't burn, trust me)
Bake until the tops are slightly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Run a sharp knife around them and loosen them so that you can remove them from the pan and finish cooling them on a wire rack before devouring! (about 30 minutes . . . for the cooling, not the devouring . . . that shouldn't take all that long!)
What do do with the leftover egg whites????
Why, make a Pavlova of course!
It's been a totally tasty Saturday . . . the best kind of all . . . sigh . . .
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