Vegan Pastel de Natas/Portuguese Custard tarts

[LaMarschallin]

Has anybody got a recipe for and/or made these?
We've a family gathering coming up and everyone's bringing food for a buffet.
My niece used to love these but is now vegan and I'd love to make a version she could eat.
So far, from internet research, I've got the idea of using puff pastry rolled out thinly, sprinkled with icing sugar and cinnamon, then rolled up tightly, cut into small pieces and rolled out again to line tartlet tins.
I've made vegan pouring custard before with plant milk, castor sugar, vanilla, cornflour and turmeric, but that would be a bit blancmange-y if I used enough cornflour to set it. Would silken tofu help?
Grateful for any hints and tips - TIA 💐

Doesn't puff pastry have butter/animal fat in it?

Happily not unless it specifically states that it contains butter.
Ordinary Jus-Roll pp is vegan (but I'll double check when I buy it).

Yes, jus rol puff is vegan, and your description of how to make the case is exactly how we do it.

Can't help with the filling. Sorry. We do dairy free, but there is a massive egg content, which I'm not sure how well you'd be able to substitute for.

I think eggs are the hardest thing to replace in vegan cookery.
Heartening to know the pastry idea seems sound though, thank you 😊

Have you investigated using aquafaba (the liquid from tins of chickpeas) , something like this recipe does https://heartfultable.com/vegan-kremsnita/

https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/aquafaba-guide/

Oh, also, following for your results because I would love to make these 😊

@TodayIWillChooseJoy

I hadn't thought about aquafaba - that's a brilliant idea and the custard recipe sounds like it would give a much better texture than my ersatz Bird's custard idea.
Thank you! 😊

PS Meant to say that I love your name

When DD was vegan I used to make custard with bird’s powder and oat milk - could you make some quite thick custard this way and add some vegan egg replacement to make it set - then just bake like a normal egg custard?

In much of Portugal vegans and vegetarians don't get a great deal of sympathy, but I searched in Portuguese for recipes and came across these two:

https://pastel-de-nata.pt/pastel-de-nata-vegan/
https://www.floraprofessional.com/pt-pt/receitas/pasteis-de-nata-vegan-237246

Both are in Portuguese but should translate fairly easily in Chrome or just copy-and-paste into Google translate.

You don’t just press the pastry into the tin. You roll into a long sausage, cut it into 2cm pieces. (Size and shape of a marshmallow) the press that into the tin. That way you get the swirl pattern on the bottom.

I went to a pastel Del nata class in Porto last week! 😬

I suspect if she loved them before she's going to be bitterly disappointed at a vegan version, no matter how good your intentions op.

Sorry.

I agree with last post, sometimes substitutes are no substitue! But then I think puff pastry ones are not the same either as the real thing with the proper pastry.

Lovely thought but maybe some other bake that translates better to vegan.

Maony thanks for those, @InveterateWineDrinker , I'll get them through the translator.
Also thanks, @BitOutOfPractice . I didn't explain myself very well above but that's how I pictured doing. Very useful to know I'm on the right lines though.
@BitOutOfPractice and @marylou25 , I do take your points. I'll be taking other things too, but think I will still give these a go. The worst thing that can happen is I lose a bit of time and money.
Really grateful to everyone that's taken the time to reply 😊

Maony thanks for those, @InveterateWineDrinker , I'll get them through the translator.
Also thanks, @BitOutOfPractice . I didn't explain myself very well above but that's how I pictured doing. Very useful to know I'm on the right lines though.
@BitOutOfPractice and @marylou25 , I do take your points. I'll be taking other things too, but think I will still give these a go. The worst thing that can happen is I lose a bit of time and money.
Really grateful to everyone that's taken the time to reply 😊

@LaMarschallin you're very welcome. I've just been back and the first link I provided does actually have an English version - click on the top right where it says Português and you can change to English or Spanish.

I went into a pastelaria (café specialising in cakes) this morning - I'm in Alentejo region of Portugal, north of Algarve and very few foreigners/tourists - and asked about vegan pasteis de nata.

The owner's reaction to the very idea was unrepeatable, but he did admit that they buy theirs frozen from a wholesaler which does not offer a vegan version. Make of that what you will...

I would just use jusrol pastry (checking it's the vegan one), sprinkle with cinnamon, roll up, cut up and pop circles in the tin. Bake.

Then fill with ready made vegan custard (e.g. alpro), sprinkle and bake again.

Very roughly following this Jamie O cheats recipe.

www.aglugofoil.com/2021/01/quick-portuguese-tarts-jamie-oliver.html