Portugese Tarts

Portugese tarts are creamy, baked custard tarts in a crisp pastry shell.  They're super easy and are just so delicious that you will want to make more. I know this as I only made a few (which was probably just as well) but made me feel sad on the day.  I made them several weeks ago and, as usual, had not got around to posting them on the blog until now. I’ve been distracted by having a little fling with Instagram. It’s very tempting to just snap a photo, post it with very few words and hey presto there’s your story. No writer’s block involved nor, for that matter, much styling. But it is nice to come back to the blog now and again.

If you’re a perfectionist, you’ll want to know in advance that the custardy filling does sag a little after baking. But hey the taste is the thing here so let's just let that one go, okay?

Before starting, bear in mind there's an hour's chilling time once you've placed the pastry circles in the tin.

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon if you want, it’s in most recipes, but I left it out as I’d just made a chocolate cake which contained cinnamon and the taste came through quite strongly.  As noted in the recipe below, I had no single cream so used double cream - double yummy I think! Well worth doing again ... and again.

Portugese Tarts

Serves 9

2 sheets frozen puff pastry
1 egg
2 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
300ml cream*
100ml standard/full cream milk
a couple of strips of orange peel (I used mandarin)
vanilla bean

*I used the wonderful Lewis Road double cream as I didn't have single cream.


Remove pastry from freezer to defrost.

Lightly spray 9 holes of a 12-hole tart tin with oil or grease lightly with butter.

Using a 9cm diameter cookie cutter (or top of a glass or a lid) cut 9 circles out of the pastry and press gently into the holes to fit. Place in the fridge to chill for an hour.

Meanwhile, make the custard by placing the egg, two egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour in a medium saucepan (don't turn heat on yet) and stir to combine. Add the milk and cream and stir again. Add orange or mandarin peel and whole vanilla bean and heat gently, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and just comes to the boil.

Remove from heat, discard peel and vanilla bean (this can be rinsed, dried and used again). Transfer custard to a pouring jug and cover the top of the custard with plastic wrap to stop it from forming a skin. Leave to cool completely.

Heat oven to 220°C. Divide mixture evenly between the pastry cases and bake 20-25 minutes until pastry and custard are just starting to colour.

Remove from the oven, leave in tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are best eaten on the same day at room temperature. Actually, these are best eaten - full stop.

Panna Cotta with baked orange blossom rhubarb

I'm not ashamed to admit I am hooked on Masterchef Australia's current season showing here in New Zealand. It does appear to be a bit "kinder" than most of these types of shows. Granted it's still a competition, but the focus is less on "who did/said what to who" and more on the food.

Well there's been a few panna cottas whipped up in the Masterchef  kitchen which has got me in the mood to revisit, even though I've made a similar one a few years back. It's such a simple, prepare-ahead dessert perfect for a balmy, summer evening  - something else which we've been having a few of recently.

This latest is topped with some exquisitely fragrant orange blossom rhubarb (recipe from Sweet Treats from Little & Friday cookbook). I cut back heavily on the sugar stated in the book (1 to 2 cups - either that's a typo or someone has a very sweet tooth!) as a 1/2 cup was plenty.

Bake the rhubarb in advance and leave it to cool in the fridge. It will keep for a few days in a sealed container in the fridge and you can use the rest in your breakfast cereal.

A small biscuit such as shortbread (whole or crumbed) or tuile is a nice touch and adds some extra texture.

For a superior vanilla flavour, I urge you to use either the seeds scraped from a vanilla pod or vanilla extract or even vanilla essence in preference to imitation vanilla which has an artificial flavour and will really do nothing for the taste.

I like that you can see the vanilla seeds in the final result but if you don't want the seeds showing in your panna cotta, strain the final mix through a very fine sieve or muslin cloth.

Lastly, I admit to being a bit of a coward. I didn't go the whole Masterchef way and upend the panna cotta onto a plate from a mould fearing a disaster! One day I must give it a try...


For the Baked Orange Blossom Rhubarb

5 stalks rhubarb, washed & trimmed*
juice and zest of 3-5 oranges
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/8 to 1/4 cup orange blossom water

*I had more stalks but there was a mix of thick and thin so I cut the thick stalks horizontally to ensure they were all of a similar thickness to cook evenly.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Cut rhubarb into 4cm-5cm slices and place in a large bowl. Add the orange juice and zest, sugar and orange blossom water and toss to coat evenly.  Transfer to a baking tray and cook in oven for approximately 20 minutes or until rhubarb is tender.

Cool and store in the fridge in a sealed container.



For the Panna Cotta (makes approximately 6-8 serves)

3 level tsp gelatine powder
2 tbsp cold water
2 cups single cream
1 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla paste concentrate (or substitute with scraped seeds from vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence)
1/3 cup caster sugar

Have 6-8 ramekins or glasses ready.

Whisk the gelatine powder into the cold water until it is fully mixed and set aside while you make panna cotta.

In a heavy based saucepan, slowly bring the cream, milk, vanilla and sugar to the boil and just as it bubbles, remove from heat.

Give the gelatine mix a final whisk, then whisk it into the panna cotta mix in the saucepan until it has all dissolved.  Leave to cool slightly.

Pour the mixture evenly amongst the ramekins or glasses.  Transfer to the fridge to chill until set.

To serve: Top panna cottas with about 3 pieces of baked rhubarb (choose the pink ones!) or other fruit of your choice and shortbread or tuiles if desired.

Panna cottas will keep in the fridge for about 2 days.

Sweet Caramel & Oat Slice

I must have got my baking mojo back this weekend. As well as having another batch of homemade muesli ready for the working week ahead, I've been busy baking my favourite lemon cake, this time done as a slice instead of a cake. I was on a roll by then and thought my daughter and her flatmates might appreciate a bit of homemade baking. 

I remembered this slice.  I pestered someone for the recipe after tasting it at work many years ago. A mother had made it for a school camp, or some other trip. I'm not sure (or don't remember!) how it found its way to the staff room but I'm glad it did. It's a wonderfully gooey mix of crunch and caramel that we all fell in love with that day and still tastes as good as I remember.

Sweet Caramel & Oat Slice

Makes approximately 24 small slices

For the filling
385g tin sweetened condensed milk
50 grams butter
2 tbsp golden syrup

For the base
175g butter, softened
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups standard flour
1/2 cup rolled oats


Place the condensed milk, butter and golden syrup in a medium sized saucepan and stir over a low heat for about 5 minutes until the butter has melted and the mixture is golden. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease and line a 23cm x 23cm slice tin with baking paper.

In a cake mixer, or by hand, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale and creamy. Sift the flour into the mixture, along with the oats and mix them in until incorporated. The mix will be moist and crumbly.  

Press three-quarters of this mix into the base of the prepared tin, ensuring you have an even surface without gaps.

Pour over the caramel filling and spread out evenly with a palette knife. 

Scatter the remaining quarter of the crumble evenly across the top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool (you should be able to lift out the whole lot by holding onto the overlap of baking paper.  You can refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight and it will be easier to slice.

Once cool, cut into small slices or squares. You don't need to cut the slices too large as it is quite rich.