1. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

2. Make the vanilla syrup.

• Take a 16cm soup pot, add 180 ml of water and 120 g of sugar.
• Peel the lemon removing the rind only, avoiding the pith. Add the rind to the vanilla syrup in the small pot
• Put the vanilla pod on the chopping board and cut it lengthwise with a sharp knife.
• With the tip of the knife, scrape out the seeds and add the vanilla pods to the pot.
• Heat the pot on low, stirring constantly until all the sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Boil for 4 minutes, continuing to stir.
• Strain the syrup and set as aside to cool.

3. Make the egg yolk fillings.

• Place 35g corn starch and 125ml milk into a large bowl and stir to combine.
• Crack the egg into a small bowl and remove the yolk with a stainless-steel spoon
• Add the three egg yolks to the milk and cornstarch mix, and stir with a fork until well combined.
• Add 250ml milk and the cooled vanilla syrup to the egg and milk mixture, stir with a fork.
• Pour the mixture back into the pot, and heat on low stirring constantly to avoid the egg yolk cooking and causing lumps in the mixture. Cook for 6 minutes. Remove the pot and place the pot into cold water so the custard cools quickly. Place the lid on the pot.

4. Make Portuguese Egg Tart

• Take 20g butter, and melt in the microwave oven on a thawing setting for a few seconds to soften it (note: not melt), then brush inside the tart mold. This will help make molding the egg tart easier.
• Take two sheets of puff pastry and place on the chopping board to thaw.
• Put two thawed pastries together, one on top of the other and gently roll out with a rolling pin to compress them together. Cut the pastry in half.
• Take the short side of one piece and roll up and join by over-lapping the edge with the short side of the other piece, and continue rolling. Press evenly keeping the same thickness.
• Once you have a cylinder, slice it into 12 equal parts, each about 1 cm or so.
• Roll each slice with a rolling pin into a flat round shape about 10 cm in diameter.
• Put the tart pastry into the Mai Fen mold, and with your hands, gently flatten the sides to the mold surface.
•  With a small spoon fill the tart shells equally and smooth and flatten the surface of each as much as possible with the back of a spoon.

5.  Bake Egg Tart

• Bake the tarts in the preheated oven at 200 C for 30 minutes, watching closely for the last 5 minutes to check the color is right. Once the custard is golden, immediately remove the tarts from the mold, and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.