A NECESSARY NOTE …I’ve never eaten these little cakes the pasteles de Belem or pastel de nata, I’ve only ever seen them in photos on various blogs or generic images around the web!!!!!!!!
However I wanted to try making them in my kitchen and so today I publish them after tasting them with Andrea last night at dinner!
They are easy little cakes to make using store-bought puff pastry. I must say I used the wrong tartlet tins — the ones with a wider base and shallower sides are better — because I used a multi-muffin pan…
These are the tins for this kind of pastry → 
I made the custard the day before and it remained creamy — perfect for filling the puff pastry shells.
I put only a little powdered sugar on top of the pasteles de Belem because the “house gastronome” hates any kind of sugar (even the crumble on a bundt cake) on desserts and I have to respect that to avoid arguments at the table! I hope you can understand …
The pasteles de Belem or pastel de nata are Portuguese little tarts that can be dusted before tasting not only with powdered sugar but also with ground cinnamon …the choice is yours, ciao!
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I opened a recipes channel open to everyone and free on WhatsApp — no notifications and no sound — which you can join by clicking the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you can read one sweet recipe and one savory recipe!
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Under the theme QUICK PASTRIES WITH PUFF PASTRY I leave you other preparations just below:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 24 pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Portuguese
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 packs puff pastry
- 500 ml milk
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 slice lemon peel (yellow part only)
- as needed butter (for greasing the tins)
Tools
- Pans
- Spatulas
- Spoons
- Food wrap
FOR THE PREPARATION OF PASTELES DE BELEM
Over low heat, warm the milk with the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel — use only the yellow part to avoid the bitter white pith.
In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the sugar, add the flour, and when the milk is hot, pour it over the mix, discarding the added aromatics (lemon and cinnamon).
Return the mixture to low-medium heat and, stirring continuously with a suitable spatula, let the custard thicken.
Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and let cool completely.
If you have time, it is advisable to prepare the custard the day before!
Now let’s make the puff pastry shells, so after greasing each tin with butter, roll the puff pastry from the longest side.
Then cut slices about 1 3/8 in (3.5 cm) and place each disc into the greased cavity, gently spreading the pastry with a light pressure of your fingers starting from the center of the tin.
The puff pastry does not need to rise high on the edges — it should not be very tall!
Once the puff pastry is in each tin, fill them with the now cold and stable custard until about halfway up the tart… This is what the Spanish blog I took the recipe from says; personally, as you can see, I think I may have overfilled mine!
Bake at 392–428 °F (200–220 °C) for about 20 minutes, bearing in mind the surface must be well browned and toasted before stopping the oven cooking.
When the pasteles de Belem or pastel de nata are baked, let them cool, preferably on a wire rack, then dust with powdered sugar and a pinch of cinnamon and …dive in!
They are delicious — a real treat!
Have a nice day ….Annalisa
I leave you the collection of Spanish recipes that I published on the blog while I gather those from Portugal!
SOURCE here
I remind you that at the top of the blog menu you will find a magnifying glass 🔎 that allows you, by entering an ingredient or a recipe title, to find all the preparations that have that title or ingredient — I hope you will find recipes you like among them!
