Way back in the day, before we even hit the 18th century, monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon were whipping up these heavenly treats. Legend has it, that they had heaps of egg whites lying around from starching clothes (yeah, weird, right?). But what to do with all those leftover yolks? Well, they got creative and started making cakes and pastries with them, giving birth to the glorious Pastel de Nata!
Fast forward to the 1800s, things were getting a bit rocky with the whole monastery situation due to the Liberal Revolution. To keep the cash flowing, those clever monks started selling their pastries at a nearby sugar refinery. And guess what? It was a hit! Eventually, the monastery closed its doors in 1834, but the Pastel de Nata recipe lived on, now in the hands of the sugar refinery. In 1837, the refinery owners opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém and made it their specialty to sell these pastries.
Since the opening of Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém, the original recipe of the pastel de nata is kept as a secret. The recipe is unchanged to this day and is known by very few people. The Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém remains the most popular place to buy pastéis de nata around Lisbon. The shop is located near the Jerónimos Monastery.
Today, the monastery is a hotspot for tourists and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And let’s talk about the Pastel de Nata itself – those crispy, flaky layers of pastry filled with creamy, dreamy egg custard and topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Pure bliss!
In fact, the Pastel de Nata has gained international fame. The Guardian even named it one of the “best things to eat” in the world back in 2009. And in 2019, Bloomberg predicted that it’s on track to be as popular as the croissant!
So, if you haven’t sunk your teeth into one of these beauties yet, what are you waiting for? Dive into the deliciousness and discover what all the hype is about!
Ingredients:
| Ingredients |
Units |
Grams |
Ounces |
Pounds |
Teaspoons |
Tablespoon |
Cups |
| Puff Pastry |
|
300 |
10.58 |
0.66 |
52.7 |
21 |
1.3 |
| Milk |
|
250 |
8.82 |
0.55 |
43.9 |
18 |
1.0 |
| Sugar |
|
150 |
5.29 |
0.33 |
26.4 |
2 |
0.6 |
| Water |
|
75 |
2.65 |
0.17 |
13.2 |
5 |
0.3 |
| Flour |
|
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Eggs Yolks |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Cinnamon stick |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Lemon peel |
4 strips |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Preparation:
For the sugar syrup
Bring the sugar and water to boil in a saucepan, stirring first to dissolve the sugar and not stirring again while it’s boiling. Leave to boil for 3 minutes until it reaches the pearl point.
For the custard:
Dissolve the flour in 3 tablespoons of room-temperature milk and stir well to make a paste/cream without any lumps. Bring the remaining milk with the 2 cinnamon sticks and the 4 lemon peels (without the white part) to boiling point. Then, add the flour mixture, little by little, and return everything to boil, stirring constantly until it thickens.
Add the syrup (it doesn’t need to cool) to the custard in a stream, stirring constantly with a whisk so that no lumps form. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes and mix a little of this cream into the egg yolks to avoid a temperature shock. Then add everything together and stir well to incorporate the yolks into the cream. Pass through a sieve to discard the cinnamon sticks, the lemon peels, and any lumps that may have formed.
For the pastry:
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle about 18/20 cm by 33-35 cm. Sprinkle with a little water and roll into a roll. Cut slices about 2 cm thick.
Place the slices upright in the moulds and line them with a thumb moistened with water so they don’t stick together. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes before filling.
To bake:
Fill the moulds 3/4 full with the cream and bake in a preheated oven at 250ºC or 482ºF (or as high as your oven will go) for about 10-12 minutes. The oven must be preheated for about 20 minutes before you put the pastries in. The pastries should be golden and crispy and the filling cream soft and toasted on the surface. Adjust the cooking time according to your oven and the size of the moulds. All ovens are different, so make sure you don’t overcook and end up with a mushy appearance. Not all ovens will likely colour the pastries so that they have black dots. Homemade Pastéis de Nata are never the same as those baked in pastry shops, so to get as close as possible we have to exNeriment with our ovens to see if we need to lower the temperature and adjust the time.
