Pasteis de nata is one of the typical Portuguese sweets and originates in the Belem district.
According to legend, the pastéis de nata were born in the Jerónimos Monastery. At the time, egg white was used in monasteries to starch clothes, and the remaining yolk was used in many recipes. The puff pastry, on the other hand, would come from France, where some monks would have lived.
After the Portuguese Revolution of 1822, the monastery began selling sweets to support itself financially.
When he began to produce and sell pastéis in 1800, the Belém area was not yet part of the city of Lisbon, but even then, it was one of the most famous pastry shops.
In 1834 the shop at the Monastery was closed and the secret recipe was sold to the nearby pastry shop where it is still the most famous place in Lisbon to eat pasteis de Bélem.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, attempts at imitation began to spread to all the pastry shops of the capital, which, not being able to use the original brand, simply called them pasteis de nata.
The original recipe for pasteis de Belém is absolutely secret. The known recipe is that of pasteis de nata.
Ingredients for about 20 pasteis
Puff pastry
- 250gr of 00 flour
- 175 gr of vegetable margarine
- 150ml of water at room temperature
Cream
- 500ml of whole milk
- 500gr of sugar
- 250ml of water
- 64gr of 00 flour
- 10gr of corn starch
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs
- Cinnamon and lemon zest
Preparation
- Knead the flour together with the water until you get a ball, leaving it to rest for 15 minutes.
- Roll out the dough into a square, placing the margarine in a diamond shape, closing the tips so that the dough does not overlap (as in the puff pastry technique).
- Roll out and repeat the process twice, letting it rest for 15 minutes each time.
- Roll out all the dough finely and brush the entire surface with water.
- Roll the dough and cut it into discs.
- Put the disks in the molds and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Mix 200 ml of milk with the flours, while in a different pot bring the other 800ml to a boil.
- Slightly heat the flour mixture with some of the milk we boiled, and then add it completely.
- Cook everything in the copper saucepan until it has thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in the sugar syrup, eggs and egg yolks.
- Fill the molds and bake at 300-350 °, until the dough is golden and the cream caramelized.
