Pastéis de nata

Preparation – 15 minutes

Heat the milk with vanilla. If using a pod, cut it in half first and scrape out the seeds and any pulp. Add the pod and seeds/pulp to the milk and warm over low heat.

Meanwhile, grease the small moulds, such as a muffin tin, with butter.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a medium bowl. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk if necessary and pour the warm milk little by little into the sugar mixture. Stir constantly to avoid lumps.

Add the egg yolks and the egg, one at a time, to the milk mixture and whisk again immediately until smooth. Set the filling aside and preheat the oven to 220 degrees celsius.

Finishing the Pastéis de nata – 30 minutes

Use a round cutter, such as a cookie cutter or glass, to cut circles out of the puff pastry. You will need about 20 rounds for this amount of filling.

Make these so large that they fit in the round moulds, roll out the rounds very lightly so that the puff pastry will not become too thick during baking.

Press the circles well into the moulds and pour the filling into the puff pastry cups. Do not overfill them, but do fill them almost to the rim of the puff pastry.

Bake them until set and nicely browned, about 20 minutes. The exact baking time depends on the oven, with a pastéis de nata you should see some burnt patches here and there.

Let them cool a bit before removing them from the moulds, they are best when they are still a bit warm. Enjoy!