Portuguese Easter Pastries or What I did during Hurricane Sandy, Part III

Portuguese Easter Pastries

My sister introduced me to these delicious morsels a few months ago after bringing one home from a "cafe" on the Upper West Side. When she said she was bringing me back a Portuguese pastry, I demurred. That was until I tasted them. OMG! They were fantastic. Creme caramel in puff pastry, that's basically what they were. So, I've been searching high and low on the web, in cookbooks, basically everywhere for a really good recipe and after having tried a few of them, I've come up with my own version.

This method also works just as well with savory ingredients. I only used half of the pastry for the Easter pastries and used the other half for spinach and a mixture of various cheeses as well as the addition of bacon. They, too, were delicious!

Puff Pastry

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup plus two tablespoons water
• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, stirred until smooth

Custard Filling

• 3 tablespoons corn or all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups milk, divided
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs and 6 large egg yolks, whisked together
• Powdered sugar

The dough

In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, salt, and water until a soft dough forms that cleans the side of the bowl.

Generously flour a work surface and pat the dough into a 6-inch square using a pastry scraper as a guide. Flour the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Dust the rolling surface with a bit of flour and roll the dough into an 18-inch square. As you work, use the scraper to lift the dough, dusting with more flour if necessary to ensure the dough doesn’t stick.

Brush excess flour off the top, trim any uneven edges, and using a small offset spatula dot the 2/3 of the dough closest to you with one-third of the butter but keeping a margin of 1 inch on all sides of the dough.

Fold over the unbuttered right third of the dough. Brush off any excess flour, then fold over the left third. Pat down the rectangle with your hand to release air bubbles or pound the rectangle with the rolling pin to flatten it our, then pinch the edges closed. Rotate 90 degrees and roll our and fold again into thirds. Brush off any excess flour, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees to the left so the fold is facing you. Flour the work surface and repeat the rolling process. Once you've gotten another 18-inch square, dot two-thirds of the dough with one-third of the butter exactly as the first time, and fold the dough in thirds as before. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

For the last rolling, rotate the dough again 90 degrees to the left and roll out to an 18-by-21-inch rectangle, with the shorter side facing you. Dot the remaining butter over 2/3 of the surface and repeat rolling as before. Let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or you can now keep the puff pastry in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use.

Flatten the rectangle one last time with the rolling pin and roll the dough into another 18 inch long rectangle. Starting from the bottom, roll the dough away from you into a tight log, brushing the excess flour from the underside as you go. Trim the ends and cut the log in half. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and chill for  at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.

The custard

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth. Set aside.

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan and cook until the sugar mixture begins turning the color of amber. The caramel will be molten hot and boiling but will take on a clear consistency as it starts to color. Do not stir. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in another small saucepan, scald the remaining 1 cup milk and the heavy cream. Whisk the flour mixture into the hot milk.

Pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream into the hot milk-and-flour mixture, whisking briskly. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and stir for a minute until very warm but not hot. Whisk in the yolks, strain the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.

Slice of rolled puff pastry log

Heat the oven to 450ºF. Remove a pastry log from the refrigerator and roll it back and forth on a lightly floured surface until it has stretched in length to about 16 inches long. Cut the log into 12 even pieces of rolled dough (like a log).

Roll each piece to about 1/8 inch thickness and place the dough into each hole of a muffin tin. Gather any excess dough to form a crimped border in each cup.

Fill each cup 3/4 full with the slightly warm custard. Make sure to leave a fair amount of free space between the top of the custard and the top of the pastry. Place pan in the middle rack of the oven and reduce heat to 400º. Bake until the edges of the dough are puffed and brown, about 25 minutes (rotate muffin pan after about 12 minutes so all pastry cups brown evenly). Pierce each cup with a very  toothpick to test for doneness. If the toothpick comes out clean, they are done.

Remove from the oven and allow the pasteis to cool a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack and cool until just warm. Sprinkle the pastries generously with powdered sugar and serve.