Materials for Portuguese Egg Tarts:
- Bowl scraper
- Mixing bowl and whisk
- Spatula
- Egg tart molds or cupcake tins
- Rolling pin
- Pot
- Whisk
Main Ingredients:
For dough:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/2 cup of water
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup of butter softened like sour cream
- Extra flour for dusting
For Filling:
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Flour
- Salt
- 1/2 Cups Milk
- 6 egg yolks
- Splash of Vanilla Extract
Goal for Portuguese Egg Tarts:
Texture: Crunch dough with a creamy custard.
Color: Golden brown crust with the custard having some charred looking spots on the top.
Guide for Portuguese Egg Tarts:
- Either by hand or in a mixer with dough paddle. Combine salt, flour and water together and knead until elastic but still super sticky. Let it rest for 30 minutes in a very well floured surface with an upside down mixing bowl covering it.
- With a well floured rolling pin, roll dough out to a thin square about 12 inches or so.
- Split the dough into thirds in your head and spread a thin layer of butter on 2/3 of it. Fold the unbuttered third onto the middle then the buttered outside third onto that. Rotate 90 degrees and close the ends.
- Pro Tip: Since the dough may be sticky, use the scraper to fold it over.
- Re-flour the surface and your pin and repeat rolling, buttering, folding and rotating 1 more time then proceed to start a 3rd round stopping at the butter part
- Butter the sheet leaving about 1/2 inch at the border.
- Start to roll the dough into a log towards the non buttered edge, when you get to that non butter part wet the edge with some water and finish rolling
- Cut log in half and save 1 for another time while cooling the other in the fridge for at least 3 hours or very firm.
- Preheat oven to 500F and start the filling
- Bring sugar, cinnamon and 1/4 cup of water to a boil to make a syrup and turn off, let sit for 30 minutes to cool
- Combine milk, flour and salt into a pot and cook until thick, smooth like a cream.
- Strain syrup into flour mixture, whisk together. Add the egg yolks and vanilla to the mix and whisk together very fast so you don’t cook the eggs.
- Take the chilled dough out and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces. They should look like little pinwheels
- Lay them flat in the muffin tin and press on them with your thumb to make a thin wall of dough
- Pour filling into the cups filling 3/4 of the way
- Bake until custard gets a little puffy, dark brown spots form, and crust turns golden brown. Generally can take about 15 minutes but check at the 8-10 minute mark and adjust accordingly (rotate if needed).
- Let it cool, serve and enjoy.
Try It With
Sprinkle some powdered sugar and cinnamon on top for the complete experience!
