Warning! These tarts are ridiculously easy to make and highly addictive. Stop reading now, if you, like me, have no willpower. These creamy custardy tarts are taken from a recipe by Bill Granger. They are amazing with a little apple sauce and crème fraiche on the side. I first had these tarts on holiday in Portugal and couldn’t get enough of them. I always thought they would be really fiddly to make, but it turns out, they are a piece of cake.
Here’s how:
– 3 egg yolks
– 115 g caster sugar
– 2 tbsp cornflour
– 230 ml cream
– 170 ml milk
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 300 g rolled puff pastry
Begin by making the custard. Place the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour into a saucepan. Whisk together over a medium heat. Slowly whisk in the cream and milk. Gently bring to the boil, stirring all the time, until the custard has thickened and coats the back of the spoon. Stir in the vanilla extract. Leave aside to cool and cover with clingfilm so it won’t form a skin.
Lightly grease a 12 hole muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
For the pastry, I know it’s kind of cheating but I bought puff pastry for these. Try and get an all butter puff pastry, if buying. Lay the pastry sheet on a floured surface. Cut the pastry in half, lengthways, so you have two long strips of pastry. Lay one length on top of the other. Now, place the shortest side of the pastry closest to you and roll towards the other end. You then end up with a short stubby roll of pastry. (It will all become clear when you do it.) Cut the roll into 12 discs. They should be about 1cm in thickness. Now, with a rolling pin, roll out each individual disc until it reaches a diameter of 10cm. This sounds complicated, but it’s really not. I would recommend using a ruler for the first one to get it all accurate. Once your pastry discs have been rolled out, gently place each one in the muffin tin. You should find they fit perfectly.
Once you have put the pastry shells into the muffin tin, spoon the cold custard into each one. Place the filled tarts into the oven and cook for 20-25mins until golden brown on top.
What worked:
They are delicious.
I made some apple sauce to go with them, which worked really well.
They are really simple to make.
