Pastel De Nata - Famous Portuguese Custard Tarts

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1. 1Step 1: Preheat your oven to 550°F (290°C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin or use 12 traditional pasteis de nata tart pans.
2. 2Step 2: In a medium sized saucepan, bring to a boil the sugar, water, vanilla extract, lemon peel (optional), and cinnamon stick. Cook until a thermometer reads a temperature of 220°F (100°C). Do not stir the mixture.
3. 3Step 3: In another medium sized saucepan whisk the milk, flour and salt together until evenly combined. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes or until well combined and the milk is thickened. Take off the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
4. 4Step 4: Once cooled, whisk in the egg yolks. Then remove the cinnamon stick from the sugar syrup and add the syrup to the milk. Mix until everything is well combined. Optional: strain through a sieve to remove any lumps.
5. 5Step 5: Unroll the store bought puff pastry and fold in half into a rectangle. Gently roll the pastry to press the two layers together. From the short end of the rectangle tightly roll the sheet into a log.
6. 6Step 6: Cut the log into 12 even pieces. Use your hands to flatten each piece and then roll them out as thin as possible into a circle.
7. 7Step 7: Place a piece of rolled pastry into each of the 12 cups of the muffin tin (or pasteis de nata tart pan). Press the pastry against the edges of the muffin tin to create the tart shells.
8. 8Step 8: Fill each pastry cup 3/4 of the way full with the custard.
9. 9Step 9: Bake the tarts until the custard starts to caramelize and blister and the pastry turns golden brown, approximately 10-12 minutes.
10. 10Step 10: Serve warm, with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon (both optional, but delicious). Enjoy!