Pastéis de Nata
Pastéis de nata are Portugal's answer to a cup of coffee, and you would never have one without the other. The puff pastry shells are rolled thin, brushed with butter, rolled back into a tight cylinder, then sliced into pinwheels and pressed into the cups of a deep muffin tin (the swirl of the slice becomes the spiral shell). The custard is a hot sugar syrup whisked into milk thickened with cornflour and tempered into egg yolks. Filled three-quarters full, baked at the hottest temperature your oven will go (the original Belém bakery uses 290°C). The blackened, blistered top is the signature, the custard underneath is silky and only just set, and you eat them warm with a dusting of cinnamon and a strong espresso at eleven in the morning.