Portuguese Custard Tarts

First Recipe. I thought I would start my first few posts on my favourite treats to eat.

1. Creme Brulee

2. Portuguese Tarts

3. Banana and Passionfruit Cake

To begin with I made some portuguese tarts the other day! Delicious. Creme Brulee will be coming soon as it is my birthday in a couple weeks and it is so on the menu! This recipe is adapted from Women's Weekly Cafe Favourites and is a single batch compared to what I normally make, as the minute they are out of the oven they begin to go missing from the tray.

Portuguese Tarts
Makes 24 mini tarts (as pictured) or 12 medium tarts.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 eggs yolks (I'll have a recipie soon for some delicious friands so keep the egg whites)
• 180ml of milk
• 150ml of cream
• 1 vanilla bean
• 5 cm strip of lemon rind
• 1 sheet of ready-rolled butter puff pastry 

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 200°C.
• Grease one 24-hole mini muffin tin.
• Remove puff pastry sheet from freezer, allow to defrost.
• In a small saucepan mix eggs yolks, sugar and corn flour to form a smooth paste. 
• Gradually add milk and cream until combined. 
• Split a vanilla bean lengthways and scrape seeds into cream mixture, along with lemon rind. 
• Stir custard over medium heat until it has has reached a thick consistency.
• Fold pastry sheet in half and on joining ends fold back onto itself, like a swiss roll. Divide the pastry log into 24 pieces.

• Roll out pastry rounds on a lightly floured surface and place in muffin tin.
• Remove strip of lemon from custard and spoon custard into pastry cases.
• Place in oven for 10-12 minutes.
• My Favourite Part! 

• Using a blow torch wave flame gently over top of tart until desired colour on top is reached. If you don't have a blow-torch you need one! They are awesome! For those that don't pre-heat the grill and place the tarts under the grill. Keep an eye on them!

NOTES: Do not be concerned if your portuguese tarts mushroom in the oven and further collapse when taken out. This is normal. Also the idea of them being portuguese is that smoky lemon sweet flavour so don't be afraid of a few little blackened specs on your custard.