Traditional Egg Custard Tart
This traditional egg custard tart includes a short crust and puff pastry case filled with a mixture of cream, or milk or both with eggs. You may use sweeteners such as sugar or honey and can even add spices like nutmeg. If you’ve been around for long you know my passion with making tarts. I’ve made quite a number of tarts, mostly no bake and we even took one majestic Pineapple and Turmeric Tart to Yummy Magazine. I have a blog post on how to make it here. With this recipe I wanted to do the traditional egg custard with a tasty homemade pastry and a silky smooth filling.
This tart is best served chilled but can also be served warm with some yoghurt. It is great for gatherings, parties and even a weekend treat. It can also be made into mini tartlets. This recipe is one of the oldest and could also be referred to as custard pie or egg pie.
The traditional egg custard tart include a short crust and puff pastry case filled with a mixture of cream, or milk or both with eggs. You may use sweeteners such as sugar or honey and can even add spices like nutmeg.
Tips On Making Traditional Egg Custard Tart
- Blind baking. This means pre baking the pastry dough for a short period before adding the filling. Blind baking is used every time you’re using a wet filling and since this recipe includes a cream and egg filling that’s wet then we need to blind bake. You’ll need to bake the pastry case without any filling for about 15 minutes and to do this you’ll need to add some baking beans. I don’t have baking beans but you can improvise with uncooked rice, beans or pasta. You just need something to fill your tin that has weight to keep the pastry from rising in the middle.
- Use cold ingredients. With any pastry dough to achieve that flakiness you need to use cold butter and ice cold water.
- Add Egg yolk to the dough. This will result in a smooth and creamier pastry dough.
- Add orange rind for extra flavor.
- For the filling, use eggs and cream. You want the cream hot enough before adding to the egg mixture. And with the eggs use a combination of whole eggs and yolks.
I hope you try out this easy recipe and let me know how it turns out, tag me on Instagram.
Love & Light,
Miss Kabaki.
Traditional Egg Custard Tart
Equipment
- 20cm Tart tine
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 cup Cold unsalted butter
- 1 tsp Finely grated orange rind
- 1 Egg yolk
Vanilla Custard
- 3 Eggs
- 2 Egg yolks
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Cream
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
To Serve
- Strawberries
Instructions
- To make the pastry dough, add flour in a large bowl, add butter and start rubbing using your fingers. Add the sugar and the orange rind, then add the egg yolk and mix together. Start adding the ice-cold water a table spoon at a time until it forms a homogenous dough.
- Knead the dough briefly until smooth. Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C and butter a 20cm tart tin.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and line the prepared tart tin with parchment paper and add baking beans( I used rice, you can use any grain as long as it has weight and blind bake for 15 minutes. Blind baking means baking the pastry with any filling.
- After 15 minutes remove the rice/beans and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes to cook the base of the pastry.
- To make the custard filling, put the whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk.
- Place cream and milk in saucepan and bring to a boil under low heat.
- Once boiled add the hot milk to the egg mixture as you whisk constantly then strain into the pastry case
- Lower the oven temperature to 150 C and place the tart in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, until the center is lightly set.
- Remove from the oven and leave at room temperature until cold.
- Serve with strawberries and enjoy.