Pastéis De Nata - Portuguese Egg Tarts

I decided that since this is not a recipe that I came up with or one from my family, that I would post where I got this one from and then give some information on this very famous tart. If you are here just for the recipe I got it from Rasa Malaysia from her Portuguese Egg Tart recipe.
The only different thing I did was instead of using her crust I used a puff pastry that I rolled out fairly thinly (as my hubby told me the last time I made these using a different recipe that the crust should be more flaky and puffy than regular pie crust). They were great! The hubby loved them, though they aren't exactly how he remembers them and even the little one enjoyed them.


If you are here to get a little history lesson with your food then please feel free to continue.

Pasteis De Nata are quite well known. You can type it in in Google and come up with about 342,000 results for it. You can find all kinds of recipes and I don't think two of the ones I've seen have been exactly the same, thanks to the fact that the Portuguese were explorers and tended to take their food knowledge all over the world as well as bringing much of it back to their country, these little tarts are famous the world round.


As to where these tarts originate, they were created in a Catholic Monastery called Jerónimos Monastery of Belém which is in Lisbon (the capitol and largest city in Portugal, also where my hubby is originally from :) ) in the early 1800's. All sources I've found speak of the one and only Casa Pastéis de Belém which is the first place the Pasteis De Nata or Pasteis De Belem were sold outside the convent, and was opened in 1837.

Some sources say that the Monastery closed in the 1820's and the recipe was sold to a confectioner and others say that the Casa Pastéis de Belém was opened in order to raise money for the monastery, that eventually became a UNESCO heritage site (I did ask the husband if this was true, to which he replied he didn't know. I then took a look at the site and their list. Because I didn't see Jeronimos Monastery in the list, the only one that looked like it could be it was Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon. If I am wrong please let me know as I cannot go to Lisbon at the moment and check all my facts).
Casa Pastéis de Belém in any case is the only place to get the original version of the tarts which are called Pasteis De Belem, and NOT Pasteis De Nata which is the version that is more widely known. It's said that the original recipe made at Casa Pastéis de Belém is:

"Perhaps the most closely guarded secret in Portuguese cuisine, allegedly known to only a precious few at the Pasteis de Belem."

The delicious egg tarts were also chosen to represent Portugal in the "Café Europe initiative Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006." As you can tell this pastry is not only famous in Portugal and with the Portuguese in general but it's made it's way to many places and is especially popular in Asian locations and communities such as Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. They even have them in Kentucky Fried Chicken branches in Hong Kong.
As for me, I will be definitely going to Casa Pasteis De Belem when I get the chance to go to Portugal to meet my family over there. The hubby has promised me (he actually just said "Yeah I'm sure we will." but to me this means "Yes, honey we will definitely be going." :D).
If you would like more information on Pasteis De Nata or would like to know where I found my information here are the links:

There's history - and a secret - in every bite - By Dominick Merle
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0811/p11s01-trgn.html

Pasteis De Nata - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_de_nata

Pasteis De Nata - Portuguese Custards - Algarve Buzz
http://www.algarvebuzz.com/pasties-de-nata-portuguese-custard-tarts/

My Hubby who is originally from Lisbon, Portugal... though you'll just have to trust me on this one ;)

Edit:
I've just been informed by Basic Basil, that Casa Pastéis de Belém has their own website over at http://www.pasteisdebelem.pt it is however in Portuguese at first but scroll down to find it is also in English.

Click on "2. Historial" for a bit of history,"3. Tour" will lead you to a page where on the bottom right hand corner is a arrow key pad (looks like the one on your keyboard) that will actually take you through the shop as you click. The "4. Horario" link will give you a list of opening hours in both Portuguese and English.

Stuffed "with goodness" Mushrooms

On October 12th the Canadian Thanksgiving occurred. My family doesn't celebrate the turkey day like most people. Since the only true Canadian in our home is our son we celebrate differently. I'm from the US and the hubby is from Portugal. Portugal doesn't have a Thanksgiving, but the US does but it's on the last Thursday of November (no where close to the Canadian one).

So as you can see why we celebrate differently than other people. I have decided that for the one we just recently had that I will do appetizers and such for the day. Seeing as this was a main part of Thanksgiving as I grew up, I figure it's a great way to split the days usual food up so half is for the Canadian in the family while the other half is for the American and the Portuguese can enjoy it all :).


One of the appetizers I love to make is stuffed mushrooms, and it's usually pretty healthy and a great hit with everyone (except my little one because he doesn't like mushrooms.... yet :) ). I like to use button mushrooms but this year I had gourmet brown mushrooms (they were on sale, 3 packages for $5 which means I grabbed 3 and ran before they changed their minds and jacked the price back up!)

These lovely little bites of yum can be stuffed with a number of things but this year I decided to do mine a little different than I have in the past. I had some ground pork which I mixed with ginger, sliced green onion (reserving the tops), diced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. I also popped the mushroom stems out of the mushrooms, dicing them up and adding them to the meat mixture. The amount for each spice depends on your taste, these are supposed to be slightly Asian tasting (hence the ginger) but which ever taste is more to your liking work more of it in.

I let this mix sit in the fridge for about an hour before breaking it up and cooking it in a pan with a little sesame oil until the pork is cooked all the way through. I then put it all into a bowl and add in the sliced green tops of the green onion to the mix as well as about 2 tablespoons of light cream cheese. Take a small spoon and spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps in the crater left by the absent stems, over flowing is good as you should have plenty of filling to fill them all and then some.


Set the mushrooms in a baking dish and pre heat your oven to 350F. Let them bake for about 5-10 minutes, the tops should turn a golden brown and the mushrooms with wrinkle a little on the outside. Take out and let cool at least 5 minutes.

These can be quite rich with the cream cheese, but they are very tasty. To make it vegetarian just leave out the meat and it's just as good!

Best Cookies Ever - According to my little one at least

I decided that it was about time for me to do the whole mommy and child thing where we make cookies together. This was actually the first time I've made cookies from scratch since I was probably 12 years old (so about 15 years for those of you who don't want to do math :) ), and the first time I've made them with my new son.
Most moms out there have gotten the chance to bond with their children since birth, but I didn't get that same chance. I'm still learning to be a mom and not just an aunt who takes care of the nieces and nephews once in a while. I've only been a real mommy figure for about 2 years so I'm still getting used to the idea and so is he.
In this quest to learn to be a mom, I regularly have to think back to some of the things I used to do with my own mother when I was a child. One of those main things would be cooking. I remember making cookies, fudge, spaghetti, chili and other such things. Comfort food is more than just something that tastes good and warm, but also something that brings on a good memory.
Cookies happen to be one of my favorite memories and I decided that it was a perfect way to bond, do something creative, and teach my son a little something as well as myself.

Chocolate chip, Hazelnut chocolate, cream cheese, Best Cookies Ever
1 Cup Brown sugar (I used a brown sugar substitute)
1 Cup Granulated sugar (I used a sugar substitute)
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups All Purpose Whole Wheat flour
2 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup Hazelnut Chocolate (Nutella is the same thing just brand named :) )
1/2 cup Light Cream Cheese
First and foremost clean hands. To show them the best way to clean their hands, have them sing the "Happy Birthday Song" two times while washing before rinsing.


Have a medium sized bowl and have the little one that is helping pour the flour, baking soda, and then have them whisk it together to get them well incorporated.

Next have them put the butter and sugar into a big bowl to be creamed together by the adult in charge(unless you know they can handle the mixer and you don't have one like mine that seems to have one speed, very very fast) until the mix is kind of fluffy and looking a lot lighter than it did to begin with. Using anything that will work, have them help scrape the sides of the bowl to get the sugary butter all into the middle.

Have the little one crack one egg at a time into the bowl and mix well before adding the next. After both eggs have made it into the mixture have the little one add in the vanilla extract and the hazelnut chocolate. Now you may need to show them how to use a plastic spatula to twist around in your measuring cup so as to get all the hazelnut chocolate mixture out and into the bowl and not somehow flying across the room (I almost had a really messy mess to clean up!). Then of course show the spoon scrape method to make sure the spatula is clean and all of it makes it into the bowl. The cream cheese should just dump right in. Mix again till smooth.

Now is when you have them pour half of the flour/baking soda mix into the big bowl and mix till just incorporated (about 30 seconds tops), then add in the rest and do the same. Now you don't need the mixer anymore but what needs to be done is beaters must come out and be set on a small saucer for later to be licked clean along with any other utensils that have been used in the most recent mixture (knives or anything sharp or poky not included of course! :) ).

Have them pour in the chocolate chips and show the folding method of under and over to incorporate the chocolate chips. After the chips are in there, cover well and put in the fridge for a couple of hours (I cooked these in two batches, freezing for one hour then refrigerating one more hour before baking half of it. The other half of the dough stayed in the fridge over night and was cooked the next afternoon).

Pre-heat oven to 375F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into balls then smoosh down to make flat round cookies (I tried just dropping them but they didn't really spread out unfortunately). Bake 10-12 minutes or until when you touch them they are slightly crisp on top but not super soft in the middle. Make sure to turn the pan half way through baking time to get them cooked evenly. Let cool about 5 minutes.


Now I suggest a glass of milk with these, be it soy, cow, or goat milk, it really doesn't matter as long as it's cold and you can dip your cookie into the glass. The little one said when licking the beaters and the spatula that they were " The best ever cookies. They taste like my favorite ice cream!" To me this is a major compliment and should be taken as one coming from my semi picky eater. The hubby has had a few of them by now and said they would be good even with out the chocolate chips which also is a great compliment to any mom (he can also be a picky eater, you should see me battle tomato with him).

As a new mom of a 9 year old I'm more than willing to take any advice from other people who know a good food to cook with a little one, and if anyone has any ideas feel free to share!