All about Portuguese Egg Tarts & Recipe - One of my favourites: Want to try some too?

Posted by Never Ending Story | Labels: Recipes

Portuguese egg tarts were evolved from "pastel de nata", a traditional Portuguese custard pastry that consists of custard in a crème brûlée-like consistency caramelized fashion in a puff pastry case. It was created more than 200 years ago by Catholic Sisters at Jerónimos Monastery (Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) at Belém in Lisbon. Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first pastry shop outside of the convent to sell this pastry in 1837, and it is now a popular pastry in every pastry shop around the world owned by Portuguese descendants.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Portuguese Egg Tarts
Recipe by Amy Beh

Ingredients
For pastry dough:
Pastry (A):

80g plain flour

75g melted butter

Pastry (B):

80g plain flour

1 tsp milk powder

1 tsp sugar

l/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp corn oil

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp ice-cold water

Cream cheese filling:

100g whipping cream

55g sugar

1 piece cheddar cheese, chopped

125ml UHT milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Pinch of salt

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method
To make the pastry: Sift flour (A) into a mixing bowl. Add melted butter and mix well to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Sift flour (B) and milk powder into a mixing bowl. Stir in sugar, salt and corn oil. Add egg yolk and stir in water. Work the ingredients together to form a smooth and fine dough. Leave aside for 10 minutes.

Roll out pastry (A) into a rectangle. Roll out pastry (B) into a rectangle twice the size of (A). Place pastry (B) in the centre of pastry (A). Fold over both sides to overlap. Roll out flat.

Fold the pastry into four or quarters. Roll out flat. Repeat twice, then fold again into quarters and leave aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

Roll dough into a big rectangle. Roll the rectangle swiss roll-style. Cut the roll into seven equal pieces. Take a piece and press lightly into a greased tart mould. Trim the edges neatly. Set aside to rest for five minutes.

Pour filling 8/10th full into the tart mould and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 25 minutes or until the top or surface of the tart turns golden brown.

To make the filling: Bring half portion of cream to a low boil. Stir in sugar to dissolve. Add the rest of the cream and cheese. Mix well to blend. Set aside to cool. Add beaten egg, vanilla essence and milk to combine. Strain the mixture through a wire mesh sieve.