For the longest of time, I have put off making Portuguese Tarts at home. I don't know why but the idea of having to make my own pastry probably deterred me BUT I found the answer that was in front of me the whole time, store bought puff pastry :)
I made Portuguese Tarts for the very first time the other day and it was an absolutely success! So, I decided to experiment and made Pandan Portuguese Tarts which turned out absolutely perfect.
The first time around I used puff pastry that I bought from Aldi which was not very good, it did not puff much and had to be cooked for longer in the oven, never again. My wise mother recommended "Borg's or Pampas" which made a huge difference, you can tell by it's puffiness - I actually sat in front of the oven the whole time whilst watching them rise and puff up oh so beautifully.
This recipe makes 24 servings, you can either eat them all by yourself but we know that sharing is caring :)
Ingredients
500g milk
1 - 1.5 tbsp pandan leaf powder
180g sugar
45g cornflour
5 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
4 sheets ready-prepared puff pastry (preferably Borg's or Pampas)
Instructions
Custard:
Add the pandan leaf powder to the milk, stir to mix well.
Place the pandan milk, sugar, cornflour and egg yolks into the TM bowl; mix 10 seconds/Speed 4.
Insert the butterfly whisk; add the vanilla bean paste and cook 18 minutes/85 degrees/Speed 1.5.
The pandan custard will be slightly runny but will set when baked. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover it with cling wrap to let it cool a little whilst you prepare the puff pastry.
Puff Pastry:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (conventional).
Cut the pastry dough sheet in half, put one half on top of the other half. Then, roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the pastry log into 1cm rounds.
Lay each pastry round onto a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out until each pastry round is 10cm in diameter.
Press the pastry rounds into a lightly greased muffin tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry and custard are golden.
Change the oven setting to grill and bake it for another 5 minutes or so, until the pastry has browned on the edges and the custard starts to blister and caramelise.
Remove the tarts from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool until they are slightly warm (the best time to eat them!).
Notes:
Make sure to let the puff pastry thaw on the counter for at least 30 minutes before you start using it for this recipe.
Do keep an eye on the tarts when they are on the grill setting as they can cook really quickly depending on your oven (you know your oven the best!).
You can purchase the Pandan Leaf Powder from My Blue Tea.
If you are unable to purchase Pandan Leaf Powder, you can substitute it with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of pandan extract.
For the non-Thermomix version of how to prepare the Pandan Custard, see below:
Add the pandan leaf powder to the milk, stir to mix well.
Put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour into a saucepan and whisk together. Gradually whisk in the pandan milk until it becomes a smooth mixture.
Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook the mixture. Stir it occasionally to make sure that it doesn’t catch at the bottom of the saucepan, cook until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Transfer the pandan custard to a bowl, cover it with cling wrap to let it cool a little whilst you prepare the puff pastry.