crème brûlée tart
custard that holds its shape slightly while retaining the flow is a sign of good custard.
pastry
recipe from elements of desserts
120g butter, softened
90g icing sugar
18g almond flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
73g flour
175g cake/pastry flour
custard
500ml whipping cream
6 egg yolks
45g sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
ganache
250g milk chocolate chips
100g whipping cream
3tbsp sugar (for the top)
pastry
preheat the oven to 350F. place 3 3inch tart rings on a baking tray with parchment paper.
in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, almond flour, and salt until light and fluffy, beat in the egg. then sift together the flour and cake flour, add the flour mixture to the bowl, beat on low until a dough forms and there are no dry patches.
wrap the dough in cling film, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
place a large piece of parchment paper on your work surface (this helps prevent sticking), roll the dough out to your desired thickness, cut out 3 6-7inch circles, and carefully press your circles into the tart rings, trim off any overhanging dough. chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
cut off 3 large pieces of cling film, place one on each of your tart shells, fill with baking beans (to make a little pouch), bake for 12 minutes, remove the baking bean pouches (you can reuse these) and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until golden.
* cling film has a weirdly high baking temperature.
custard
put the cream in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, gently bring to a boil. in a heatproof bowl whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract until pale, once the cream is boiling slowly pour the cream into the egg yolks whisking vigorously the whole time (this is tempering the eggs so they don’t curdle).
place the bowl over a saucepan filled with water (don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl), on medium heat, occasionally stirring with a spatula cook the custard for 10-20 minutes, it should go just a bit thick. run your finger across the spatula if it leaves a clean line then the custard is ready. pour into a clean bowl, cover the surface directly with cling film, and leave in the fridge overnight.
ganache
bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan, once boiling pour over the chocolate chips, stir until thick and slightly glossy.
pour about 1/4cup of the ganache into the tart shells, chill in the fridge for 10 minutes, fill the rest of the tart with the cold custard, chill in the fridge for 2-4 hours.
evenly sprinkle about 1tbsp of sugar over the top of the custard tart, then blowtorch until a golden crust forms:)
