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1
Combine the flour and salt for the pastry. Add cold water gradually and mix to a rough dough — it should hold together without being sticky. Rest under a cloth for 15 minutes. Cold butter must remain cold throughout; work rapidly and, if the kitchen is warm, chill hands under running cold water before handling the dough.
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2
Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thin rectangle. Distribute the cold butter across two-thirds of the surface in thin slices. Fold the unbuttered third over the centre, then fold the remaining third on top — a letter fold. Rotate 90° and roll again to the same rectangle. Repeat the fold. Wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat two further roll-and-fold cycles, resting 20 minutes between each. The finished dough, when cut, should reveal distinct, separate strata of fat and dough — layers that are merged or greasy indicate butter that has warmed into the dough.
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3
Roll the rested laminated dough to a thin sheet and cut rounds to line a 12-hole muffin or tartlet tin. Working with refrigerator-cold pastry, press each round into its mould using the thumb, working from the base upward, to achieve uniform, ultra-thin walls. Return the lined tin to the refrigerator until the custard is ready — the shells must be cold when filled.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a saucepan. Add the flour and whisk smooth. Pour in the cream and set over a medium flame, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, until the custard thickens to nappe — it coats the back of the spoon and a line drawn through it holds clean. Remove from heat immediately. Stir in the vanilla. A custard that is too thin will crack and collapse under the extreme oven heat; one that is overcooked will seize and turn grainy in the shell.
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5
Heat the oven to its maximum temperature: 280°C minimum, 320°C if the oven allows. Fill each cold pastry shell to 80% of its depth — the custard expands during baking and overfilling causes spillage. Slide the tin onto the highest shelf or the floor of a deck oven, where top heat is most direct.
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6
Bake for 10–14 minutes. The shells should be deep gold and crisped at the base; the custard surface should blister, billow, and blacken in patches. These dark patches are not a defect — they are the signal of correct temperature. Remove the tin when the custard still trembles slightly at the centre; carry-over heat will complete the set. A pale, flat, uniform custard surface indicates the oven was too cool.
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7
Immediately on exit from the oven, while the caramelised surface is still tacky, dust each pastel with ground cinnamon and icing sugar. Both adhere and permeate the surface rather than sitting on top. Serve within 30 minutes — the contrast of warm, slightly trembling custard and crisp laminated shell is optimal only within this window.