CREME BRULEE TART BY BLANCO

Always a popular dessert, you don’t have to visit a restaurant to devour a tasty creme brulee tart. Follow this recipe and everyone will think you’re a professional chef at a top end restaurant! – go on give it a try!

Ingredients

Pastry
125g butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
⅓ cup icing sugar
½ cup almond meal
1½ cups plain flour
Custard Filling
8 egg yolks
¾ cup demerara sugar
1 litre thickened cream
1 vanilla pod
1 teaspoon of gelatine

Method

Pastry Preheat oven to 180°C on fan and bottom element cooking function. Grease four mini tart moulds (10cm diameter, 3cm deep). Put flour, almond meal, icing sugar and butter in a food processor and beat until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Make a well, add egg and beat until the mixture comes together. Mix with a flat blade knife, using a cutting action until the mixture comes together in beads. Turn out onto a floured surface and gather into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll out the pastry between two pieces of baking paper. Divide the pastry into 4 and roll out to fit base and sides of each baking mould. Trim away any excess pastry, prick the base with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cover pastry with baking paper and spread with baking beads or rice and bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the beads/rice with baking paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. When ready, set aside to cool.

Custard Filling – Slit the vanilla pod in the middle and drop into the saucepan of thickened cream. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat. In a mixing bowl, cream the yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Remove the vanilla pod from the cream mixture and add to the creamed yolks to dissolve. Heat a saucepan of water until 1/3 full (where the bowl of custard can sit just touching the water). Place the bowl of custard mixture on top and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Stir until the mixture is thick. (Test by running your finger horizontally on the back of a spoon. When the mixture does not run over the drawn line it is an indication that the custard is ready). This will take at least 15 minutes. Remove from saucepan. Add a tsp of water to the gelatin and stir into the mixture and leave to cool to room temperature. Pour gently into the tart cases until three quarters full. Set in the fridge for at least 3 hours (best left overnight).

To serve –  Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of demerara sugar evenly on the custard. Use a blow torch and aim around the sugar until it caramelizes.