Portuguese Pastéis de Nata – the most traditional dessert from Lizbon

What are Pastéis de Nata?

Pastéis de Nata are traditional Portuguese pastries (see other also: Portuguese sweets) filled with smooth and delicate custard. They have a round bowl-like shape. The pastry that is crispy and crunchy serves as a little bowl for an egg custard filling. Finally, Pastéis de Nata are sprinkled with powdered sugar and some cinnamon.

How to make Pastéis de Nata at home?

Although the recipe is not very easy and it takes some time to prepare Pastéis de Nata, they are worth the whole effort and once served, your family and friends will love them. With every next baking time you will master your technique and the whole process will take you less time and the effect will be better. So do not give up and try it!

Pastéis de Nata recipe

Prepare separately ingredients for the dough and for the custard filling.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

-500 g flour

-400 g margarine

-300 ml water

-10 g salt

For the custard:

-500 ml milk

-275 g sugar

-35 g flour

-5 egg yolks

-1 whole egg

-5 g margarine

-pinch of salt

For garnishing:

-powdered sugar

-cinnamon

Direction:

The whole process of preparing traditional Portuguese Pastéis de Nata can be divided into five steps or phases.

The first step is to prepare the dough.

Step 1: making the dough (phyllo like) for Pastéis de Nata

1- Put flour into a large bowl.

2- Add salt and mix with flour in the bowl.

3- Add to it water.

4- Mix three ingredients either manually or using a mixer. Mix it until you get a soft and smooth dough.

5- Prepare a pastry bord and flour it (it is necessary to put some flour on the surface to avoid sticking the dough to the pastry board).

6- Place your dough on the pastry board and shape it into a square.

7- Once again use flour for sprinkling. This time sprinkle the top of the whole dough.

8- Use a cling foil for covering the pastry board with the dough.

9- Let it stay in a room temperature for less than half an hour (20 minutes is fine).

Step 2: mastering the dough

Now, it is time for the second step – for mastering the dough so that it has this unique crispy and crunchy texture.

1- Roll well the dough (more or less you should get the dough of a tripled sized than before rolling) so that is very thin.

2- Divide prepared margarine into three parts.

3- Take one of them and spread it evenly on 2/3 of the rolled dough keeping a 2 centimeters wide margin/border along the edge.

4- Fold the unbuttered part of the dough over the one that was buttered.

5- To eliminate all air bubbles that could appear while folding, pat the dough.

6- Pinch edges of the dough.

7- Once again roll the whole pastry until you get the previous large size.

8- Repeat the buttering and folding once again, so, take the second 1/3 part of the prepared margarine.

9- Spread the margarine over 1/3 of the dough remembering of keeping the margin clean.

10- Again, fold the remaining 1/3 of the dough over the buttered area and pat it for eliminating air bubbles.

11- Roll again trying to get the bigger size than before.

12- Repeat the buttering, folding and rolling process for the last time. Use for it the remaining 1/3 of margarine.

13- Finally, when the dough is well rolled, form a tight roll.

14- Cut the dough into 2 pieces.

15- Use cling foil for wrapping each of two dough rolls.

16- Cool the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Alternatively, you can prepare the dough the day before and then let it stay in the fridge for the whole night.

Step 3: preparing the egg custard for Pastéis de Nata

Prepare 3 separate pots.

Divide your ingredients for the custard into three sets (flour, 100 ml of milk; sugar, 100 ml water, cinnamon; remaining milk).

Pot 1:

1- Take the first pot (medium size) and put flour into it.

2- Add 100 ml of the prepared milk.

Pot 2:

1- Add sugar to the pot.

2- Add cinnamon stick.

3- Add water.

4- Bring to boil.

5- Boil for a couple of minutes without stirring it while boiling,

Pot 3:

1- Heat the remaining milk in the third pot.

Step 4: finalizing the custard filling

1- Combine two pots – pot 3 with the warmed milk and the pot 1 with flour and milk.

2- Put it on the heat and start slowly heating it. Remember to keep the fire slow so that it has enough time to combine and eliminate the risk of over burning the milk or having clumps.

3- From the pot 2, remove the cinnamon stick from the syrup.

4- Add the mixture from the second pot the warm mixture of flour and milk from pots 1 and 3.

5- Do not remove the heating pot from the fire. Still keep it on a slow fire.

6- Remember to pour the content of the second pot very slowly to the other one and at the same time mix it quickly.

7- Add vanilla to the slowly boiling mixture. Remember not to overheat it.

8- Take prepared egg yolks, add them to the mixture and mix all again.

9- Remove from fire.

10- Place the prepared custard into a separate bowl.

Step 5: baking pastries for Pastéis de Nata

1- Preheat the oven to 290°C.

2- Remove two cooled pastry rolls from the fridge.

3- Roll it until you get a thin, 2 cm wide stripe.

4- Cut the rolled dough stripe into 1.5 – 2 cm pieces.

5- Take the muffin form and fill each of them with the dough forming bowls – pastry cups.

6- Form pastry cups with the dough going over the muffin form.

7- If you have problems with forming muffins and the dough is not enough elastic, let the dough soften in a room temperature.

8- Take the bowl with the prepared custard filling.

9- Double check that the custard is cooled.

10- Fill each pastry cup in the muffin form with the custard.

11- Put the custard filling only up to ¾ of the height of the muffin form.

12- Check whether the oven is well heated.

13- Place the muffin form into the oven and bake for about 15 or 20 minutes (the length of baking depends on the size of the muffin form but it is ready once edges of the pastry cups are golden-brown).

14- Remove muffins from the oven.

15- Let them cool down.

16- Do not remove baked Pastéis de Nata immediately from the muffin from.

17- Let them stay in the muffin form for a couple of minutes until they are warm but not hot.

18- Remove cautiously Pastéis de Nata from the muffin form.

19- Finally, sprinkle your warm Pastéis de Nata with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

How to serve Pastéis de Nata?

The best option is to serve them in a couple of hours after baking. Their ideal texture is when they are warm. The custard filling is very smooth and creamy. The pastry is crispy and elastic at the same time.

How to store Pastéis de Nata?

Pastéis de Nata are the best eaten warm. With every next hour their loose their delicacy and smoothness of the custard filling. Eating them the same day, even if they are cool is fine too because their ideal texture is not fully lost. However, if you need storing for a couple of days, you can do it. Put them into an airtight container and keep them in a room temperature. It is better you do not keep for more than two days.

Finally, another option would be to freeze remaining Pastéis de Nata. To do that, either use special freezer bags or and airtight container. Freeze for not more than three months. Remember also to put them on a shelf in the freezer where you do not store other aromatic foods.

Freezing should be avoided because after thawing Pastéis de Nata their texture would be far from the original. Due to the fact that they contain both fats and water, their thawing process is different and in consequence you get a soggy pastry, while the custard filling is relatively tight and split.

Pasteis de Nata are best eaten warm (or cold) the same day they are baked.  However, you can store them at room temperature in for up to two days

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