Portuguese Custard Tarts

Did I hear someone say Portuguese Custard Tarts?  I could easily eat a few of these without reaching for a drink.  I have always had a sweet tooth and these tarts certainly measure up to my standards.  I saw this Portuguese Custard Tart recipe on Allrecipes.com that I wanted to try.  I don't know if it is authentic or not, but who cares!

These certainly look and taste different from those I used to eat from the St Lawrence Market.   I must say they taste much better than they look.  After all, how can you go wrong with custard and puff pastry!

Portuguese Custard Tarts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup white sugar
6 egg yolks
1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 375F.
2)  Lightly grease 12 muffin cups and line bottom and sides with puff pastry.
3)  In a saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla.  Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Place egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture into egg yolks. Gradually add egg yolk mixture back to remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until thickened. Remove vanilla bean.
4)  Fill pastry-lined muffin cups with mixture and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is lightly browned on top

Note:
I reduced the sugar to 2/3 cup when I tried it, and it will still be a bit too sweet for some people.