Cooking Therapy

I had been wanting to make a custard based dessert for a while, but could not decide on what. I did not want it to be too basic, but also not too complicated either. I finally decided on making what I call the Sun Spot. It is inspired by the Portuguese Pasteis de Nata, however, rather that using a tart crust as the pasteis, I turned to my Mediterranean roots and opted for phyllo dough instead. What came out was a creamy, buttery, crispy, mixture that I could not stop eating, and, because they are small bite-sized cups, I had no issue doing so. I called them Sun Spots because when I took them out of the oven, and looked below at them, they looked like the sun. Try them today!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 12 cups

Ingredients

10 sheets of phyllo dough

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ cup white sugar

6 egg yolks

1 capful of vanilla extract

Orange peels

1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a medium sized bowl, add the egg yolks, the sugar, the corn starch, and the vanilla extract and blend well with a whisk until sugar begins to dissolve and a creamy mixture forms
• In a medium sized saucepan, heat the milk with the orange peels and cinnamon stick and bring to a simmer
• Using a ladle, slowly pour one scoop of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk to blend. Transfer the mixture slowly into the milk and stir until it begins to thicken. Once it thickens, transfer it to a clean bowl through a sieve or strainer to remove any lumps and the orange peels and cinnamon stick. Let the cream cool and while it cools, prepare the phyllo dough

• Butter up a muffin tin
• Carefully butter one sheet of phyllo and place it on your work surface. Butter another sheet and stack it on top of the first. Cut them into six square pieces. Stack two pieces one over the other to make a star. Place it in the muffin tin hole. Repeat process until all muffin tins holes are filled

• Pour the custard into the phyllo dough slowly until it is ¾ of the way full

• Place into the oven to bake. Bake until the phyllo is golden brown, about 15 minutes. While it is baking, make the syrup
• To make the syrup, add a tablespoon of sugar, a little water to barely cover the sugar, and some orange peel and simmer until sugar is dissolved and it thickens a bit
• Once the cups have finished baking, remove them from the oven and brush them with the syrup
• Let cool down before serving
• Enjoy!