Baked custard Tart

A deliciously simple baked custard tart. Enjoy!

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Make pastry by; beating icing sugar, butter and salt together until it forms a nice smooth paste.

Step 2

Then add the egg yolks (3) and mix until combined (may look a bit curdled)

Step 3

Then add the plain flour (225 g) and incorporate it to form a crumbly chunky dough that sticks together.

Step 4

Form a disk with the dough. Then place dough between two pieces of parchment/baking paper floured and roll it out nice and thin. Refrigerate the thinned pastry till hardened (around 20-30 minutes).

Step 5

Remove from the fridge and cut the desired shapes from the pastry, place these into the tart pan (or pans) and freeze for 20-30 minutes until solid.

Step 6

Step 6 Preheat oven to 175 °C, then line tart with parchment/baking paper and add pie weights or dried beans and blind bake for 12 minutes. After the time, remove baking paper and weights, add an egg wash and then return to oven and bake for a further 4 minutes (should be light in colour not too golden brown as its going to cook again)

Step 7

Remove from the oven and leave to cool before using

Step 8

Make custard filling: Preheat oven to 130 °C. Heat the milk and cream together in a saucepan over a medium-low heat until its warm/simmers with the vanilla extract/pod

Step 9

In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light, pale and fluffy

Step 10

Once milk mix is hot, add it to the egg yolk mixture a ¼ at a time to temper the yolk mix and whisk to combine

Step 11

Once all the milk is combined with the egg yolk mixture pour it back into the saucepan. Then place on the heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens slightly and is no longer foamy (or reaches between 75 °C – 85 °C).

Step 12

Once the mixture thickens, remove from heat and sieve into the cooled baked tart case.

Step 13

Remove any excess foam on top but using a spoon. Blowtorch to remove any air bubbles.

Step 14

Bake for 30 – 60 minutes until the tart is set and theres a slight wobble in the 1” centre of the tart. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 3-4 hours before dusting with some ground or freshly grated nutmeg before serving