When I visited Japan I stumbled upon Lord Stow’s Bakery, which turned out to be famous for its Macau Egg Tarts (also called Portuguese custard tarts or Pastel de Nata). They reminded me of the egg tarts I’d grown up eating at dim sum, only the pastry was flakier and the filling seemed to be almost bruleed on top. I have since found one dim sum place that makes something similar, but it’s a 6-hour drive from where I live. So to satisfy my periodic craving for these amazing egg tarts, I realized I was going to have to figure out how to make some semblance of them at home.

Guessipe

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed according to package instructions
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla

Roll the puff pastry sheet into a log. Slice the log into 12 pieces.

Place each piece of dough with the swirl facing up, and roll into a disc slightly larger than the size of your muffin tin cup. Press each disc against the bottom and up the sides of a muffin tin cup to the top. Freeze while preparing the custard.

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, and vanilla in a cold pot. Then cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture just begins to steam and thickens enough to coat a spoon. Allow to cool completely.

Remove the muffin tins from the freezer. Divide the cooled filling evenly among the pastry cups.

Bake at 450 degrees F until the pastry browns and the custard starts to caramelize (15 minutes, then 5 minutes with the oven turned off). Allow to cool.