This recipe uses puff pastry which you can buy ready made – or substitute shortcrust pastry. The tart cases are filled with an egg custard, flavoured with vanilla extract. Some cornflour is added to give extra thickening. The custard is tricky to make and can curdle, so take your time when stirring.
Makes 12 large tarts or about 20 smaller ones
Ingredients
2 eggs
100 g caster sugar
2 tbs cornflour
150 ml milk
150 ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
200 g ready made puff pastry or shortcrust pastry.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
- Make the custard – mix the beaten egg with the sugar. Blend the cornflour with 3-4 tablespoons of milk to make a smooth paste.
- Mix the remaining milk and cream together and heat gently in a pan or in a jug in the microwave.
- Put the eggs, sugar and cornflour mixture into a saucepan and stir in the warm milk and cream. Heat and stir continuously until it begins to thicken. This can take 10 minutes and must be done slowly to stop the eggs from curdling and the mixture going lumpy.
- Add the vanilla extract.
- Roll the pastry into an oblong and roll into a log. Cut into 12 pieces if using a muffin tin, or 20 pieces if using a jam tart tin.
- Roll out each piece into a 10 cm circle for muffin tin or 6 cm circle for a jam tart tin.
- Spoon in the custard to fill the tarts.
- Bake 20-25 minutes until the tarts are golden on the top.
itaughtthemtocook.com 