French Deep-Dish Custard Tart

It's not "too hard" to make a French custard tart like this in your kitchen. If you enjoy baking, you can make it. The pastry is easily achieved using a simple biscuit crumb base. The vanilla custard is creamy and dreamy, and is a cream enriched version of the custard, crème pâtissière, used in many French Pâtisserie tarts, but even more cream-enriched. Thanks  to Nagi Maehashi for this recipe from her recipe book "Recipe Tin Eats Tonight" that I based mine on.

The custard took a little longer to thicken than Nagi said it would, so I kept stirring patiently, and meditatively, and once it started to thicken, it all happened very quickly. I was rather pleased that I have cooked Boiled Egg Custard on the stove before using my Mum's recipe, and it is a similar process. I always serve Mum's custard with my Christmas Brandy Plum Pudding, also her recipe, which yikes, it's nearly time to start making. My Mum's custard recipe isn't quite as creamy and rich as this one, as it's more of an everyday kind of boiled custard, and isn't baked beforehand but is served from the pouring jug. 

The smaller Christmas Plum Pudding with Boiled Egg Custard in my jug in the background

Have you ever made a boiled egg custard? Bought custards just don't compare with the taste and quality of the homemade version. It's certainly worth having a go. 

This Custard Tart serves 12 people, albeit the slices aren't large, but after a substantial meal, my friends and Mr. HRK agree that this is the perfect size for a slice of heavenly custard tart.

The French custard in this tart sets with just the slightest wobbly centre, and what I love is that it can be made the day before it is needed for a dinner party and stored in the refrigerator. That leaves the following day to concentrate on the main event of the meal, although I think this tart could easily claim to be the main event. Once it is removed from the springform tin and brought to room temperature, it slices beautifully. Honestly, it just melts in your mouth. So creamy!

BUTTERY CRUMB BASE

100 g digestive biscuits

60 g unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp caster sugar

CREAMY CUSTARD

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) full fat milk

1 cup (250ml) thickened cream

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthways and seeds scraped out (keep the bean)

2 tsp vanilla bean paste (substitute for the vanilla bean if necessary)

1/2 teasp. vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla essence)

1/2 cup (100 g) caster sugar

60 g egg yolks (4-5 eggs)

1 large egg(55 g)

1/3 cup (40 g) cornflour

TO SERVE (OPTIONAL)

Raspberries

Icing sugar, to dust

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 deg. C (160 deg C) fan forced. 

Select the base of your 20cm springform pan, (I only had a 19 cm), why do they keep changing the measurements? It worked perfectly though. Invert the base, making it easier to slide off the tart when cooked.

Grease the base with butter, and cover it with a large square of baking paper. Place the unclipped pan down onto the base. Clip the sides of the tin into place. I have to say I found this difficult as my tin is fairly new and the clip is stiff. In the end I turned it over, upside down, pressed the base down very firmly from the topo, and then I managed to clip it in place. Phew, next time this should be easier. I think this was the most difficult part with making this tart. I almost had to call in Mr. HRK to use "brute strength" with the clip, ha, ha. I knew I could do it though.

Grease and line the inside of the tin with paper. Mission accomplished, springform pan ready to go.

The Buttery Base:

Break up the biscuits roughly with your hands and drop them into your food processor bowl.

Blitz them on a high speed until they transform into fine crumbs, or you can go non-mechanical and just use a rolling pin and a ziplock bag which is the way it was done before the advent of food processors. I remember Mum doing this between sheets of greaseproof paper with a rolling pin, no plastic involved.

Either way when the butter and the sugar is added, and they are blitzed or stirred until combined, the crumbs will look like fine wet sand.

Spoon the wet biscuit mixture into the base of the lined springform tin, and press very firmly into the base. Press down the biscuit mixture firmly to ensure a very crisp base. I used a small bottle to do this and it worked a treat. 

Bake for 15 minutes, and then let it cool for 15 minutes. This is necessary to ensure it is hard before pouring in the custard mixture and it remains crisp.

Reduce the oven temperature to 140 deg. C (140 deg. C fan-forced)

Infuse the Milk:

Place the milk, cream, vanilla bean seeds and used vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract with half the sugar into a medium sized saucepan. Heat your saucepan over  a medium-high setting or until hot (without letting it boil), stirring all the time to dissolve the sugar. Turn off your stove, cover the saucepan with the lid, and leave it to stand for 10 minutes to infuse the milk with the vanilla flavours. If a skin does happen to form (it didn't with mine) it will disappear later with whisking. Remove the bean, squeeze it free of any milk back into the saucepan, and discard. 

The French Custard:

Place the egg yolks, egg, cornflour, and remaining sugar into a medium bowl. 

With a hand held whisk, whisk the mixture. (Please don't use an electric beater.)

While whisking, pour the hot milk slowly into the eggs in a thin steady stream. Whisk until the mixture is just combined, then stop whisking. Pour this mixture back into your saucepan that you have set aside.

Cook this mixture over a  medium-low heat for 3 minutes, keep whisking constantly, or until it thickens into a custard. This could actually take 10 long minutes or even more to achieve. 

Nagi calls them "lazy bubbles" which may appear, but you will have to stop whisking to see them, cook for another 45 seconds, whisking constantly, and remove the saucepan from the stove. The indicator I used was that when I saw the impression of the whisk become noticeable in the custard, I thought it was thick enough to pour into the springform tin.

Pour the custard onto the biscuit base and spread it out so it's even, although it should smooth out while cooking.

Bake for 30 minutes until it is noticeably just set on the edges and still a bit wobbly in the middle.

Set your tart:

Cool your tart on the counter, then refrigerate for at least 8 hours, after which the custard will be well and truly set.

Serve : This is where your overhanging paper becomes useful.

Unclip the sides of the cake tin and slide the tart off the base, using the overhanging paper. Bring your tart to room temperature on the counter for 30 minutes. Cut into slices and serve. 

I tested it out on a variety of plates for dessert and even though you can only see evidence of 10 plates there are indeed 12.  

Decorate to your heart's content as you wish, however adding raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar works beautifully.

We served the French Custard tart with a lemon curd swoosh around the side of the plate, for an additional element, and the flavour of the lemon curd complimented the tart beautifully. If you have extra lemons on hand, it's worthwhile making this Microwave Lemon Curd, which was originally the lovely Lorraine's (Not Quite Nigella) recipe. It also freezes very well.

Bon appétit,

Pauline