I remember when I was young my parents took my sister and me to buy egg custard tarts during our holidays in Hong Kong, Macau and Portugal. Now every time I get to eat them, the crispy outside of puff pastry together with a milky soft inside reminds me of my childhood. You cannot imagine how still to this day a cardboard box full of these lovely goodies can really make my day. My love for these pastries has grown so strong that I was dedicated to try making them at home. This way, I can bake and eat them anytime I want. As I know you want this as badly as I do, I am sharing this recipe below 😉

Before we start, let us look closer at the different egg custard tarts. The egg custard tarts from Macau are more or less the same as those from Portugal (pastéis de nata) which came into existence during the period when Macau was a Portugese colony. The mottled brown surface is typical of these Portugese custard tarts. The Hong Kong custard tarts are in turn derived from the Macanese ones. The difference is that for the former the custard is all yellow and smooth instead of mottled with brown spots.

Serving: 16 pieces
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 10-15 minutes
Preservability: 4 days stored in a sealed container at room temperature. (The outside softens gradually over days. So I recommend to heat them up in the oven before eating as the pastry puff will be crunchier and the inside more firm.)

Ingredients:
1.5 rolled puff pastry
25 gram buckwheat flour (or any other flour)
230 gram granulated sugar
300 ml milk
30 gram raw honey
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick
3 tablespoons shredded lemon zest
½ teaspoon salt
butter (for mould-release preparation)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 220 celsius degrees to get the Portugese pastéis de nata with the brown speckled appearance. If you want to bake the Hong Kong custard tarts instead, then preheat your oven to 180 celsius degrees.
2. Grease the muffin tins with butter. This enables you to easily take out the egg custard tarts once they are done. Put them aside until they are ready to use.
3. Slice one rolled puff pastry into 10 equal slices of 1.5 cm. Take the second rolled puff pastry and use one half of it to create 5 additional slices of 1.5 cm. The remaining half of the puff pastry you can put it back in the fridge and use for another time or purpose.
4. Roll each slice into a disc of 10 cm and press it into the muffin tin.
5. Put the muffin tins covered by puff pastry in the fridge for 20 minutes.
6. In a large bowl beat together the flour, granulated sugar and egg whites with an electric mixer for approximately 3 minutes until smooth.
7. Heat the milk with cinnamon stick in a pan for 4 minutes. This way, the cinnamon flavour will be better absorbed by the milk.
8. Add the mixture of flour, sugar and egg whites to the milk while stirring and mix them all together for 3 minutes.
9. Pour it in a bowl to cool down.
10. Fill the puff pastry baskets to 3/4 with the custard mixture.
11. Bake them for around 10-15 minutes at 280 celsius degrees for Portugese custard tarts or 180 celsius degrees for Hong Kong custard tarts.

And voilà, they are ready to eat! Bon appetit <3

Have you tried making these lovelies before, either in Hong Kong or Portugese style? I would love to know if you have baked any variations on these custard tarts before.

Until next time!

Love always,

Mee-Ling