I never thought it would be possible to make a good, home-made WDF custard tart. Why not? I was wrong. Today I have made my mum just that – even if I say so myself. With a little adaptation from a normal recipe this is superb just as it is. It is so simple to make and only requires one cook – no dodgy “is it done?”. The pictures don’t really do this tart justice
INGREDIENTS
1 shortcrust pastry (as made here)
200g (7 oz) caster sugar
3 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp plain WF flour
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
350ml (12 fl oz) Almond milk – you can get this or a hazelnut version from the “Free From” sections in supermarkets or in the long life milk section. The hazelnut milk has a stronger flavour that comes through into the dessert.
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g (4 oz) raspberries
icing sugar to decorate, optional
METHOD
- Make the pastry as instructed
- Preheat oven to 200C
- Roll out, as best possible, to line a 23cm tin
- Bake the pastry shell blind for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and parchment and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the pastry has come away from the tin edges and is golden brown
- Combine the sugar, cornflour, flour and salt
- Separately, mix the egg yolks and almond milk. Whisk this into the cornflour mixture
- Cook over a medium heat in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens. If the egg begins to curdle or stick, lower the heat.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla essence and leave to cool
- Spread half of the custard over the pastry shell, arrange the fruit (leave enough to decorate the top) and spread the remaining custard
- Chill until serving time
- Before serving, dust with icing sugar and serve with a few rasberries
PREP: 40 mins including chilling time
COOK: hob time 10 minutes, oven time 20-25 minutes
DIFFICULTY: medium
Crosby's Cookbook 