Pastel de Nata – Egg Custard

Although this egg custard might be used for other purposes, this is one of the two essential parts to prepare the world-famous Pastel de Nata (Egg custard tart).

If you haven’t done it yet, please check out our recipe dedicated to the preparation of the Puff Pastry.

While to prepare the puff pastry you will need some skill to knead and fold properly the dough, for the egg custard you basically need to respect the recipe and be patient.

Start by preparing the sugar syrup that will be basis for the sweetness and flavor part of the Pastel de Nata. Bring to a boil a pan with the sugar, water, lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Let it simmer for 3/4 minutes and turn of the heat. By now you should already start to sense the fragrance of the Pastel de Nata…

While the sugar syrup is resting (we will need it to be cool), whisk together the flour, cornstarch and some milk until get a homogeneous mixture. Heat the remaining milk and as soon as it starts boiling, pour it in the bowl.

Once the sugar syrup has cooled, and while whisking, pour it slowly to the bowl. Finally, while still whisking, add the yolks and eggs.

Our egg custard is done!

It’s time to prepare the egg custard tarts:

• Coat each tin with a slice (1-2 finger thick) of the puff pastry;
• Add the egg custard just under the edge of the tin;
• Bake them for 7 min on very high temperature (above 300º) or until both the egg custard and the pastry are cooked;
• Let it rest for 10min before removing the Pasteis de Nata from its tins.

Like we said before, this one is not the easiest of our recipes, but surely one of the best!

Sounds difficult? Keep calm and breathe out! We are here to help… You don’t need to learned it all by yourself… Book our Pastel de Nata Pastry Class, a complete, step-by-step, hands-on pastry class that will give you with the tips and tricks to bake these delightful pastries at home! Are you going to beat the famous Pastel de Nata from the Pastéis de Belém Pastry Factory?! Probably not! But you will for sure impress your friends and family once you get home…

Pastel de Nata - Egg Custard

Homecooking Lisbon

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Pastry

Cuisine Estremadura

Servings 50 Pasteis de Nata

Ingredients

  

For the Sugar Syrup

• 1 kg sugar
• 500 ml water
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 cinnamon stick

For the Egg Custard

• 125 g flour
• 75 g cornstartch
• 12 yolks large
• 2 eggs large
• 1 l milk

Instructions

 

• Start by preparing the Sugar Syrup: on a large pan, add the sugar, water, lemon peel and cinnamon stick. Bring the water to a boil and let it simmer for three minutes;
• On a large bowl, mix the flour and the cornstarch, with the help of a whisker;
• Add a small portion of milk to the bowl and keep whisking until you get a homogeneous mixture;
• Heat the remaining milk on a pan and as soon as it starts boiling, add it to the bowl which you should keep whisking;
• While still whisking, add the sugar syrup to the bowl;
• Finally, while still whisking, add the yolks and eggs to the bowl;
• To prepare the egg custard tarts, coat each tin with a slice (1-2 finger thick) of the puff pastry and add egg custard you just prepared;
• Bake for 7 min on very high temperature or until both the egg custard and the pastry are cooked;
• Let them cool for 10min before removing the Pasteis de Nata from the tins.

Notes

With this egg custard recipe you should be able to bake up to 50 pasteis de nata. That's about 4x what we do in class, so the quantities should be scale down to 25% or 12 pasteis de nata):

- flour ~30g

- cornstarch ~20g

- 3 yolks (we cut out the 1/4 of a full egg);

- 200ml sugar syrup;

- 250ml of milk.

 

Don't forget to check also our puff pastry recipe!

Keyword Egg Custard, Pastel de Nata, Puff Pastry