Custard Tarts from Portugal

These custard tarts are one of my favourites.  If you get unexpected guests for afternoon tea you can knock them up in no time.  You can find them in all the places in the world where the Portuguese had colonies.  The Portuguese might have left there but their custard tarts remained.  In Portugal these are called Pasteis de Nata.

1 cup milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup white sugar
3 egg yolks
1 roll of puff pastry
Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius.  Unroll the puff pastry and use an upside down  glass to cut circles out of the pastry.  Lightly grease a muffin pan and place the puff pastry circles inside the muffin pan.  In a small pot combine the milk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla.  Use a soup ladle to remove some of the milk mixture and add it to the beaten egg yolks.  Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the pot stirring continuously as it will start to thicken quite quickly and you don't want any lumps.  Let it simmer while you keep stirring, for another 5 minutes.  Fill the pastry-lined muffin cups with the mixture and pop into the oven.  Allow it to bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the pastry cases are golden brown and the filling is lightly brown on the top.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Kyiv Ukraine.  She is the author of The Colorful Art of Pain, Hush Baby and Defective.  All her books are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format.  http://cindyvine.com