Portuguese tarts are a combination of a flaky pastry shell with a sweet egg custard in the middle. These Allie & Sara’s Kitchen Portuguese Custard Tarts from Costco caught my eye because they look delicious on the box and they’re actually made in Portugal! Are these tarts as tasty and exotic as I hoped? Read on to find out!
I’ve had Portuguese tarts from a local bakery but I’ve never bought them from a grocery store until now! Today I’m reviewing the Costco Allie & Sara’s Kitchen Portuguese Custard Tarts.
If custard tarts aren’t your thing Costco carries a lot of other delicious sweet treats! The Kirkland Signature Cranberry Orange Bisconie, Marie Morin Creme Brulee, Kirkland Signature Tuxedo Cake, Dessert Italiano Tiramisu, Charlotte’s Mini Chocolate Brownies and the Kirkland Signature Banana Pecan Loaf.
Location in Store
The tarts are located in the freezer section, near the ice cream and other desserts. The item number is 1593287.
Taste
I prepared my tarts using the oven method. My tarts had been out of the freezer for about half an hour, so I only kept them in for 12 minutes. They probably could’ve used a bit more time.
The pastry got nice and crisp in the oven. It’s also quite flaky. The filling is a plain, sweet custard. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor, but it’s not bad. There’s a lot of filling in the tarts, which makes them a bit soggy. As I mentioned, I’d bake my next batch a little longer.
I tried the tarts uncooked as well. The flavors were the same, but they were chewier and the pastry was less flaky and less crispy. Interesting though, they seemed less soggy. I definitely preferred them hot.
Cost
The 720-gram box contains 12 tarts and costs $13.99 Canadian at Costco. The cost per tart is similar to what I pay at my local bakery that sells Portuguese tarts.
Convenience
The tarts come frozen and can be warmed in the oven, air fryer or microwave. They don’t have to be warmed, they can simply just be defrosted to enjoy without warming. I’m a bit hesitant to recommend warming them in the microwave because I think they’d be quite soggy.
They’re a product of Portugal and the best before date is about 10 months from when we purchased them. Once the tarts have been thawed they cannot be refrozen. I think these make a nice dessert or mid-morning treat to have with coffee or tea!
Nutrition
Calories
One tart contains 160 calories, seven grams of fat, 23 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, 11 grams of sugar, three grams of protein and 120 milligrams of sodium.
Ingredients
The ingredients list is short and sweet with ingredients I can pronounce and know what they are! The tarts contain wheat, milk and egg. They may contain sesame, soy, tree nuts and oddly, mustard!
I appreciate that these are preservative-free with no added chemicals, colors of flavors and are made with 100% real butter.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 6/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 0/10
Overall
Give them a try.
These aren’t quite as good as the bakery ones I buy but they’re decent! I just wish they were a bit less soggy and less heavy but the flavor is good.
Have you tried these tarts before? What did you think of them?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
I had just arrived from a trip to Portugal and was lamenting never being able to eat pastei de nata again, since they don’t sell them in my country. So I was very excited to find them at Costco. Of course I immediately bought a box! I air fried them according to the instructions on the box and I loved them! I’ll be honest, they’re not as yummy as the freshly baked ones I had in Portugal, but they ARE very good. They were very crispy, and the custard was very tasty. I’m sorry that the person who reviewed these didn’t follow the instructions on the box. The experience would have been different for sure. Also, the picture on the review is not a good representation of the actual product. I hope people will not be discouraged and not give these a try.
I lived in Portugal as well on the Argov, and a Pastel de nata as they are, there we often are mid morning treat with milky coffee. The secret to these tarts is to make sure they are well and hot. This avoids them being soggy. I did mine in the air fryer for nine minutes in their foil cups. I had to wait a minute or two to cool. , but they were delicious. The only thing I would say about the recipe is that in the local portuguese bakeries they don’t use corn syrup.
They aren’t soggy at all if you cook them correctly if you didn’t think they were done that is user error.
Don’t buy frozen desserts that comes to your mouth from thousand of miles away. It does disturb the whole experience of enjoying a great treat. Plus ( the most important) you are helping local economy and reducing carbon emissions. Think straight. Say straight. Do straight.
nooooooo…very, very good!
Arrêter de faire mauvaise propagande à les tartelettes à la crème Portugaise car c’est la plus pire imitation que j’ai mangé dans ma vie, je suis de origine Portugal, j’ai 60 ans et vous êtes à donner mauvaise non au Portugal et à toute les Portugais, je vais dénoncer partout votre pseudo compagnie, aller au Portugal et vous aller voir les vrai tartelettes à la crème, les vrai Pastel de Nata.
I disagree, these are fabulous!
I put them in an air fryer for 14 minutes and wonderful!
I went to Costco to buy more tonight and couldn’t find them. So disappointed!!!!
Totally agree with your review, soggy and heavy, defiantly better to buy fresh. I normally pick up fresh from a Chinese bakery of all places and they are great!
Thanks for all your reviews!
Thanks for your review. I don’t know if we have them here in Ontario but I’ve occasionally seen them frozen in the grocery stores and wondered if they’re any good. I noticed in your pics they lack the yummy dark caramelized spots on top that add to the flavour, but maybe that was just some of them in the box. In the bakery section of my grocery store, they cost about $3 each. My husband’s not a fan while I do like them but not as much as a good butter tart!
Being Portuguese myself, I was very skeptical of these as I have seen others in grocery stores here in Canada. They aren’t bad, if you don’t want to go to a bakery that makes them. They are better than the ones grocery stores try to imitate. I would never buy them again, price point you can go to a Portuguese bakery and pay the same.
I tried them before I read your report and was very disappointed. We used to live in a Portuguese community in Ontario where I loved the tarts. I was excited to see them at Costco and both them right away, but was not impressed. I found them heavy and doughy. They are certainly not as good as they look on the box. I never bought them again. I generally agree with your reviews so I value your opinions. I will not be trying the protein bars.
That should be “bought” not both. Autocorrect!
Yes skip the protein bars!