Queijadas De Nata Cream Tarts Food

PORTUGUESE CUSTARD TARTS (QUEIJADAS DE NATA)

Steps:

• Make a little volcano in the middle of the flour.
• Slowly add water to the centre and mix slowly with a fork or your (clean) fingers while you pour. If you pour too quickly, the water will spill over the flour, so mix a little and pour a little.
• Knead/work the dough with your hand. Just like kneading dough for bread. Do this for about 5 minutes.
• Make a little ball. note: It shouldn't stick to your hands at this point.
• Dust some flour on the top and bottom of the dough ball and cover with a dry towel.
• Let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes minutes.
• In a medium bowl, cut the stick of butter in small pieces and add the 2 pinches of salt.
• Use a fork to mash the butter until smooth and soft (should look like very soft vanilla ice cream).
• Dust (lightly sprinkle) a clean large surface with flour.
• Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a long thin even-shaped rectangle. Dust with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or surface. Flip the dough over a few times to roll both sides evenly.
• Using a spatula, butter knife or your fingers, spread a thin layer of butter on the flat dough.
• Lightly mark a line at one and two thirds of the length of the dough. Basically, you're trying to divide the length in three equal part.
• Fold the dough from the right, towards the left to the second line (two thirds of the way across).
• Fold the dough from the left to reach the right edge (close it like a book). Your dough should resemble a small rectangle. The dough should be thin.
• Dust a baking sheet with flour, place the dough on the baking sheet and dust the top with more flour.
• Cover the dough with parchment paper and place it in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Clean the surface where you rolled the dough before and dust with flour again.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on the dusted surface. Point the open edges away from and towards you.
• Dust the top of the dough with flour.
• Repeat the last 10 steps twice (starting at using the rolling pin to roll the dough into a long thin even-shaped rectangle).
• Once the dough comes out of the fridge for the fourth time, roll it out into a large rectangle like previously, only this time you will carefully and evenly roll the length of the dough into a tight long tube shape. Note: don't try to do this fast!
• Trim the edges with a sharp knife for a nice even cut.
• Cut the dough "tube" in half.
• Wrap one half with cling wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes (wrap and place the other half in the freezer. it lasts about 6 months. You only need half the dough for this recipe.
• Cut the dough into 16 equal size wheels, about 3/4 inch or just under 2 cm.
• Have a bowl of cold water handy.
• Dip your fingers in cold water so the dough doesn't stick to your fingers.
• Place a round piece of dough on the bottom of the tin.
• Start pressing/pushing the dough circle into the bottom and up the sides all around the tin.
• This process will take a bit of time. At the end, you should have a thin layer at the bottom and covering the sides to the edge. The bottom should be thin but not ripped.
• Repeat the last three steps until you've used all of the dough.
• Place all the covered tins on the baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 550 °F. Our oven's regular temperature only goes to 500 °F, but I can also set it to 500 °F on convection which is equivalent to 550 °F on the regular setting. It's very important to use a hot oven. This will ensure the tops come out toasty.
• Pour the water, sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest in a medium bowl and heat on medium high.
• Once it reaches a slow boil, keep cooking for about 4 minutes or until you've achieved a syrup (can coat the back of a spoon and drips slowly). If you have a candy thermomter, the temp. should be 100 °C or 212 °F. Set aside off the stove (discard the lemon zest and cinnamon stick).
• Place the flour in a medium bowl and pour about 1/4 cup of cream over the flour.
• Pour the rest of the cream into a sauce pot and heat on medium high.
• Whisk the flour and cream until smooth.
• Once the cream starts to boil, pour it over the flour/cream mixture and keep whisking.
• Measure 1 cup of the syrup mixture and add it to the cream mixture, whisk together. (discard the rest of the syrup or use it in a drink).
• Add a spoonful or two of the custard mixture to the egg yolks and whisk to avoid turning them to scrambled eggs.
• Add the egg yolk mixture over the custard mixture and whisk well.
• Remove the baking sheet with the tins from the fridge.
• Pour the custard mixture into each of the tins to about 3/4 of the height of the dough. Discard the rest of the custard mix. There shouldn't be much left.
• Carefully place the baking sheet in the hot oven on the middle rack and bake for 10 minutes.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the tarts cool for about 15 minutes. They'll look puffy when they come out of the oven, but will then drop a little. This is normal.
• Enjoy your homemade Portuguese custard tarts with a little cinnamon, plain, warm or cool!An espresso is a perfect match for these tarts!

PORTUGUESE CUSTARD TARTS (PASTEIS DE NATA)

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt, and cold water in a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough just comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough should be sticky; adjust with more flour or water to achieve what's shown in the video.
• Transfer dough onto a well floured surface. Dust a little more flour over the top. Knead for a minute or two to form a round. Cover and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Roll dough into a square about 1/8 inch thick, dusting with flour as necessary; dough should still be sticky.
• Spread 1/3 of the butter over 2/3 of the square using a silicone spatula, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Flip the unbuttered side over the middle of the square and fold the opposite end over it like a letter. Straighten the edges as needed.
• Turn dough with a bench scraper to unstick it from the counter; dust with flour. Flip and sprinkle more flour on top. Roll dough into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle, carefully stretching edges as needed. Spread another 1/3 of the butter over 2/3 of the dough. Fold into thirds. Transfer onto a lined baking sheet and freeze until butter is slightly chilled, about 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle dough with flour and roll into a square a little over 1/8 inch thick. Spread remaining butter over the dough, leaving a 1- to 1 1/2-inch border on the top edge. Dip your finger in water and lightly moisten the unbuttered edge. Roll dough into a log starting from the bottom edge. Dust with more flour and polish the ends as needed. Seal with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
• Combine sugar, 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water, cinnamon, and lemon zest in a pot. Boil over medium heat, without stirring, until syrup reaches 210 to 215 degrees F (100 degrees C). Remove from heat.
• Preheat oven 550 degrees F (288 degrees C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
• Whisk flour, salt, and cold milk together very thoroughly in a cold pot. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until milk thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
• Whisk egg yolks into the cooled milk. Add the sugar syrup and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Strain custard into a glass measuring cup.
• Unwrap the dough and trim any uneven bits on the ends. Score log into 12 even pieces using a knife; cut through.
• Place a piece of dough in each muffin cup. Dip your thumb lightly in some cold water. Press thumb into the center of the swirl; push dough against the bottom and up the sides of the cup until it reaches least 1/8 inch past the top. Fill each cup 3/4 of the way with custard.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the pastry is browned and bubbly, and the tops start to blister and caramelize, about 12 minutes. Cool tarts briefly and serve warm.

QUEIJADAS DE NATA (CREAM TARTS)

Steps:

• Butter and cover 24 tins with the pastry of your choice.
• Mix all ingredients well, beating alittle.
• Fill tins half way.
• Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 C) oven for about 20 minutes or until cream is solid.
• Remove tarts from tins while hot. Cool.

PASTéIS DE NATA (PORTUGUESE CUSTARD TARTS)

Steps:

• Using a pastry brush, grease eight individual pastry tins generously with the melted butter, then chill in the fridge. Put the butter between two sheets of baking parchment, then bash and roll into a large rectangle roughly the thickness of a £1 coin. In a large bowl, mix the flour with 150ml water and a pinch of salt using a wooden spoon. Tip the dough onto a clean surface and knead for 5 mins until smooth.
• Shape the dough into a rough rectangle, cover with cling film and rest in the fridge for 20 mins. If your butter is getting too soft, put it in the fridge to chill too. Roll the dough out into a large, thin rectangle at least twice the size of the butter. Put the butter in the middle of the dough, fold all the edges up over it to encase it, then fold the dough over itself in half.
• Roll out the dough to roughly half its original size, then fold in half, then half again to make a rectangle a quarter the size of the original. Repeat this process once more, flouring your work surface if you need to. Don't worry about being too precise here, or if the butter starts breaking through some of the layers. Cover and put the pastry in the fridge to rest for 20 mins.
• On a floured surface roll the chilled dough into a thin A3-sized rectangle, then roll it up lengthways into a tight sausage shape. Divide the pastry into three, the middle section will make your perfect looking tarts, then wrap and freeze the rest for another time. (It would also make delicious palmier biscuits if you roll it out and sprinkle with sugar.)
• Slice the pastry into 8 discs. Work the discs into the tins with your fingers, pressing and stretching them to fill the tins. If the layers start to come apart, press them back together. Chill while you make the custard.
• In a pan, warm 150ml milk with the cinnamon stick, lemon peel and half the butter until just simmering and the butter has melted. In a large bowl, sieve the cornflour and flour into the remaining milk and whisk to form a thin paste. Pour the warm milk mixture over the flour paste and leave to infuse for a few mins. Sieve the custard back into the pan, heat gently and keep stirring for 3-4 mins until it reaches the consistency of double cream. Take off the heat and blend in the remaining butter.
• Put the syrup ingredients in a frying pan and stir over a medium heat for 5 mins until you have a light, fragrant caramel. Take the pan off the heat and carefully pour in 100ml water. Return the pan to a low heat until the sugar has melted again into a syrup. Strain into a bowl.
• Slowly add half the syrup to the custard and whisk until completely blended. You can store the custard in the fridge from this point, but don't add the eggs until just before you are ready to cook the tarts. Heat your oven to 260C/240C fan/gas 8 or as high as your oven will go. Put a baking tray on the top shelf of the oven to heat up. Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl, then incorporate into the custard. Pour the mixture into the pastry bases.
• Put the filled tin on the hot baking tray. Put the tray in the middle of the oven and bake for 5- 8 mins, or until the custard starts to puff up. Once the custard has puffed up, turn the oven onto its grill setting and transfer the tarts to the top shelf. Grill for 1-2 mins or until caramelised - the darker the better. Remove from the oven and brush with a little of the remaining syrup. Let the tarts cool slightly in the moulds before turning out onto a cooling rack.