There are those who like it and there are those who incredibly don't like. I LOVE IT! The famous pastel de Nata, but better known as Pastel de Belém. Or is it the other way around?! Do you know the story of this famous pastry?
Pastéis de Nata or Pastéis de Belém are one of the most popular specialties of Portuguese sweets. Although you can savour pastries of cream in many cafes and pastries (at the end of this article we leave our suggestions), the original recipe is an exclusive secret of the Fábrica dos Pastéis de Belém, in Lisbon. There, traditionally, the pastries of Belém are still eaten hot, sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. According to my Wikipedia search in 1837, in Belém, near the Jerónimos Monastery, in an attempt to publicise, the monastery clerics offered for sale some custard tarts. At that time, Belém and Lisbon were two distinct localities with access provided by steamboats. The presence of the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower attracted countless tourists who contributed to publicising the Belém pastries.
Following the liberal revolution of 1820, in 1834 the monastery closed. The pastry chef of the convent decided to sell the recipe to the Portuguese businessman from Brazil Domingos Rafael Alves, continuing to this day in the possession of his descendants. At first, the pastries were offered for sale in a sugar refinery located near the Jerónimos Monastery. In 1837 the facilities were inaugurated in an annex, then transformed into a pastry shop, the "The old confectionery of Belém". Both the original recipe and the name "Pastels de Belém" are patented. And it gained another highlight, in 2011 Pastel de Belém was elected one of the 7 Wonders of Gastronomy of Portugal. Currently, in most coffees in Portugal it is possible to buy pastéis de nata, of own manufacture, but only the originals can be called Pastéis de Belém. That said, how about we try to make our homemade recipe to kill our will without having to leave the house?!
Grab a pen and the recipe booklet from the heart, and write down our recipe suggestion! Remembering that this recipe is not the original.
Pasta ingredients
1 roll of puff pastry
Sauce ingredients.
220 ml of water
350 g of sugar
Cinnamon powder
1 lemon peel
Cream ingredients
350 ml of milk
100 g of wheat flour
90 g of cornstarch
1 egg
120 g of yolk
How to do it
To make the syrup, put the sugar, cinnamon powder and lemon peel in 220 ml of water in the pan. Stir until the sugar is diluted. Bring the mixture to a boil until it boils.
To make the cream, put the milk in a container and thicken with wheat flour and corn starch. After the cream is well mixed, bring to the fire and stir well until it thickens.
Add the syrup to the cream little by little, without stopping stirring. Turn off the heat and let it cool.
With the cold cream, add the egg and yolk and stir well.
Open the puff pastry on a greased surface.
Wet the palm of your hand and go through the entire dough. This will make her "stick" more when it comes to curling up.
Wrap the edge of the dough and cut it into rolls about two fingers thick. Each roll will be a pastel.
Open the roll in the pie mould. Squeeze well. The dough should be a little out of the mould for the pastel to be crispy.
Put the cream in the mould.
Bake in the preheated oven at 300°C for 15 to 20 minutes.
Suggestions for where to find it is delicious:
Address: R. de Belém 84 92, 1300-085 Lisbon, Portugal Phone: +351 21 363 7423
Address: R. Horta Seca 1, 1200-243 Lisbon, Portugal Phone: +351 21 401 9117
Address: Praça dos Restauradores 62 -68, 1250-110 Lisbon, Portugal Phone: +351 21 132 5435
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