These Portuguese custard tarts are facsimiles of the true pastéis de Belém pastries from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belém (below), where they churn out more than 22,000 pastries each day. When you make that many a day, you get damn good at it. There are all kinds of reasons why the original pastéis de nata from this pastry shop are so freaking good. Secret recipes, teams of folks who do nothing but make the pastry dough or whip up the filling, ovens that blast at 800°F.
☞ Read: The History of the Pastel de Nata ☜
In order to translate the pastéis to the home kitchen and to ovens that that hit 500°F if you’re lucky, these pastéis are smaller than the original. and the tops may not brown quite as much as the authentic pastéis in the picture, which are from the confeitaria. Still, that hasn’t stopped the flood of rave reviews below. The secrets to making spectacular authentic Portuguese custard tarts at home are few and simple.
When making the pastry, make sure the butter is evenly layered, all excess flour is removed, and the dough is rolled very thin and folded neatly. As for the custard, you’ll need a thermometer to accurately gauge the custard. These are best eaten warm the day they’re made.
Common Questions
Like all delicate pastries, a pastel de nata should be eaten the day it’s made. Its flavor and texture are at their peak.
If you’re not able to eat all your pasteis de nata the day they’re made, you can store them covered with plastic wrap for up to a day.
Write a Review
If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
Fantastic recipe, David! Outstanding reviews, and hands down the most positive comments I’ve ever heard from my neighbours and family! Thank you so much, however, now my neighbours are begging for more from me!? LOL! Such a shame to be so popular with your amazing recipe, I suppose it’s a burden that I must bear! Seriously, David, you knocked it put of the park!!
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Pastéis de Nata ~ Portuguese Custard Tarts
Equipment
- Mini-muffin tin with 2-by-5/8-inch (50-by-15-mm) wells; If you prefer the classic larger tins from Portugal, you can purchase them at Portugalia Marketplace (above).
Ingredients
For the pasteis de nata dough
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
- 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature, stirred until smooth
For the custard
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups milk, divided
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 large egg yolks, whisked
For the garnish
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Cinnamon
Instructions
Make the pastéis de nata dough
- In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, salt, and water until a soft, pillowy dough forms that pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 30 seconds.
- Generously flour a work surface and pat the dough into a 6-inch (15-cm) square using a pastry scraper. Flour the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Roll the dough into an 18-inch (46-cm) square. As you work, use the scraper to lift the dough to make sure the underside isn't sticking to your work surface.
- Brush the excess flour off the top of the dough, trim any uneven edges, and, using a small offset spatula, dot and then spread the left 2/3 portion of the dough with a little less than 1/3 of the butter being careful to leave a 1 inch (25 mm) plain border around the edge of the dough.
- Neatly fold the unbuttered right 1/3 of the dough (using the pastry scraper to loosen it if it sticks) over the rest of the dough. Brush off any excess flour, then fold over the left 1/3 of the dough. Starting from the top, pat down the dough with your hand to release any air bubbles, and then pinch the edges of the dough to seal. Brush off any excess flour.
- Turn the dough 90° to the left so the fold is facing you. Lift the dough and flour the work surface. Once again roll it out to an 18-inch (46-cm) square, then dot the left 2/3 of the dough with 1/3 of the butter and smear it over the dough. Fold the dough as directed in steps 4 and 5.
- For the last rolling, turn the dough 90° to the left and roll out the dough to an 18-by-21-inch (46-by-53-cm) rectangle, with the shorter side facing you. Spread the remaining butter over the entire surface of the dough.
- Using the spatula as an aid, lift the edge of dough closest to you and roll the dough away from you into a tight log, brushing the excess flour from the underside as you go. Trim the ends and cut the log in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or preferably overnight. (The pastry can be frozen for up to 3 months.)
Make the custard
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and 1/4 cup milk (60 ml) until smooth.
- Bring the sugar, cinnamon, and water to a boil in a small saucepan and cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 220°F (104°C). Do not stir.
- Meanwhile, in another small saucepan, scald the remaining 1 cup milk (237 ml). Whisk the hot milk into the flour mixture.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and then pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream into the hot milk-and-flour mixture, whisking briskly. Add the vanilla and stir for a minute until very warm but not hot. Whisk in the yolks, strain the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside. The custard will be thin; that is as it should be. (You can refrigerate the custard for up to 3 days.)
Assemble and bake the pastries
- Place an oven rack in the top third position and heat the oven to 550°F (290°C). Remove a pastry log from the refrigerator and roll it back and forth on a lightly floured surface until it's about an inch (25 mm) in diameter and 16 inches (41 cm) long. Cut it into scant 3/4-inch (18-mm) pieces. Place 1 piece pastry dough, cut side down, in each well of a nonstick 12-cup mini-muffin pan (2-by-5/8-inch [50-by-15-mm] size). If using classic tins, cut the dough into generous 1-inch (25-mm) pieces. Allow the dough pieces to soften several minutes until pliable.
- Have a small cup of water nearby. Dip your thumbs in the water, then straight down into the middle of the dough spiral. Flatten it against the bottom of the cup to a thickness of about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm), then smooth the dough up the sides and create a raised lip about 1/8 inch (3 mm) above the pan. The pastry bottoms should be thinner than the tops.
- Fill each cup 3/4 full with the cool custard. Bake the pastries until the edges of the dough are frilled and brown, about 8 to 9 minutes for the mini-muffin tins, 15 to 17 minutes for the classic tins.
- Remove from the oven and allow the pasteis to cool a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack and cool until just warm. Sprinkle the pasteis generously with confectioners' sugar, then cinnamon and serve. Repeat with the remaining pastry and custard. These are best consumed the day they're made.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
According to my Portuguese dad, I can make these pasteis de Nata again and again and again! I am pretty chuffed with how they turned out since I had doubts throughout the entire process of making these traditional tarts. First of all, Pasteis de Nata are the epitome of the classic Portuguese sweet treat. So no pressure!
In following the recipe, when mixing the flour, salt and water in the stand mixer, my dough never achieved the soft pillowy stage I was hoping, or rather thinking, what it would be. My dough did pull away from the sides slightly, but remained sticky, hence I feel I should have added more flour which I didn’t at this stage. Doubt started to set-in! When working with the dough on the work surface, I needed to add a very generous amount of flour to stop the dough from sticking. At this stage I probably added so much flour that I actually increased the amount of flour added to the dough significantly.
I found working with the dough a test of extreme patience! I remained calm (yet doubtful) and just kept working with it gently. I was never able to achieve the 18-by-18-inch square, no matter how hard I tried. It was closer to 14 inches. The custard seemed quite thin and even though the recipe mentioned it would be so I had my doubts it would firm up into a creamy custard. While the tarts baked, the butter bubbled and oozed out of the dough and over the edge of the minis tin causing lots of smoke in the extremely hot oven. I baked the minis for 9 minutes and the custard was set and the pastry was golden brown. I expected the custard to have a brown speckled appearance (like the ones you buy commercially), but it remained an eggy yellow. For the larger tins, I baked the tarts for 15 minutes and they too remained an eggy yellow with a golden brown pasty.
To my surprise, the pastry was super flaky and crispy and it had that perfect crackly crunch that is the true mark of a great pasteis de Nata! And the custard? It set and was creamy, sweet, and deliciously perfect.
When my Portuguese mom said they tasted just like the pasteis de Belem (the most famous and original Portuguese Custard Tarts), then I knew we had a winner! Talk about the best compliment ever! It was quite a bit of work to produce these little gems, but the end result was definitely worth the effort!
It was only a few years ago when I tried pastéis de nata for the first time and instantly fell in love with them. Being intimidated by their temperamental preparation, I never thought about making them myself. That was until I clapped eyes on David’s recipe.
I’m not afraid of detailed recipes when it comes to baking as I prefer to stay alert every step of the way. Since the preparation of any kind of dough almost always puts me in a state of mental affliction, I feel much more confident when I have a thoroughly laid-out guidance to dough-making. I humbly list David’s pastéis de nata under this category of recipes.
Pre-baking notes:
– Following the dough preparation steps to the letter with much perseverance, I had no problem carrying out David’s instructions. The dough turned out great. I was a little clumsy placing the cut dough pieces in the cups, so they baked a little out-of-shape but I’ll do better next time.
– For the custard, I prepared a little more than necessary because I had something different in mind. I wanted the custard to overflow so that it would create an imploded structure that’s reminiscent of the Yorkshire pudding! In order to do that, I filled the cups 5/6 full with custard, instead of 3/4 full. So it’s approximately a tablespoon of extra custard for each cup.
Baking notes:
– The only technical problem for me was the baking temperature. The highest temperature my oven could provide is 500°F, whereas the recipe calls for 550°F. That’s why I had to improvise a little. After 15 minutes of baking (I used a regular 12-cup muffin pan), I checked the pastries and they weren’t quite done yet, so I baked them for another 7 minutes. After 22 mins of total baking time, both the dough and the custard were well done.
Post-baking notes:
– The dough puffed a little more than it should. The next time I make these pastries, I’ll do the fork trick and see what happens.
– The overflowing custard idea worked great. I obtained pastéis shaped like tiny edible bowls into which a choice of topping (I prefer a scoop of vanilla ice cream) would perfectly fit!
– The custard recipe is so good that the baked pastries had this amazing shiny look as if they were glazed!
– And the taste is… legendary. The ethereal smell of the baked flaky dough virtually announces the commencement of a delicious Saturnalia for taste buds. The frenzy of simple but elegant flavors is crowned with the regal quality of vanilla. It’s truly spectacular! I hope to enjoy more soon 🙂
Baris–wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! These are the most gorgeous homemade pastéis de nata I’ve seen. And your baking notes are super helpful. Thank you for adding to the knowledge of these wonderful pastries.
Fiddly recipe but grea result. I needed less water than the recipe states to get the dough to form.
RB, great to hear it. If you’re not in the U.S., chances the flour is slightly different, requiring less (and in some cases more) water.
Hello, sir. I am a young home cook. I have made flaky-type Hong Kong egg tarts before, which are like Macau egg tarts, but less of the scorched exterior. (<Macau egg tarts are Portuguese egg tarts but kind of reinvented by the Chinese.) So I was wondering if I could use the type of tin I used for those tarts. Those are basically fluted tart tins made of very thin aluminum. Also, I’m curious if I could lower the sugar to 150g and add some vanilla extract to the sugar syrup. Thank you for this amazing recipe, sir! Sorry to bother you with so many questions even before I made the tarts.
Hannah, first: Stop calling me “sir”! I feel so old when you do that. You can call me David.
Yes, you can use those tins. You will most likely have to bake them a bit longer. (If you check out this comments above, others have done the same thing.)
And I think lowering the sugar should be fine. I haven’t done it; my only fear is it might affect the consistency of the syrup.