CHERRY AND CUSTARD TARTS
 
 
Ingredients
  • FOR THE PASTRY:
  • 90g unsalted butter (3 oz)
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup flour (150g)
  • FOR THE CUSTARD:
  • 1¼ cups milk (310ml, 11 oz)
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 4 egg yolks
  • TO TOP THE TARTS:
  • ½ kilo cherries (1 pound)
  • Icing (powdered) sugar, for dusting
Method
  1. To make the tart pastry, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and get out a muffin pan.
  2. Place the butter, water, oil, sugar and salt in an overproof bowl.
  3. Put the bowl in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the butter is melted, bubbling, and just beginning to brown around the edges.
  4. Carefully remove the bowl from the oven and dump in the flour. Stir quickly, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the dish.
  5. Put a tablespoon of dough into one muffin hole, and press it into the base and up the sides using your fingers. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
  6. Prick the dough with a fork once or twice.
  7. Bake for 8 - 12 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown all over.
  8. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
  9. To make the custard, mix together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small bowl. This will prevent the cornstarch from going lumpy later.
  10. In a large heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla. Whisk the flour mixture to the egg yolks slowly, one tablespoon at a time. It will be thick and pasty. Set aside.
  11. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, putting them into the milk. Throw in the vanilla pod, too.
  12. Place the pan over a high heat and scald the milk – heat it until bubbles appear around the edges, but it is not boiling.
  13. Once the milk is scalded, remove from the heat and slowly pour it into the egg mixture, whisking continuously.
  14. When all the milk incorporated, pour the custard back into the saucepan and cook over a medium heat. Whisk continuously and vigorously until the mixture begins to thicken and comes to a boil.
  15. Once the mixture thickens and is just beginning to bubble, whisk vigorously (to prevent lumps from forming) for 10 seconds and then turn off the heat.
  16. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl (discarding the vanilla bean). Cover with plastic wrap, putting the plastic right onto the surface of the pastry cream. This will prevent a skin from forming.
  17. Refrigerate until cold.
  18. To assemble the tarts, fill the tart shells with cold pastry cream. Top with the cherries and dust with icing sugar just before serving.
  19. Makes 12 tarts.
  20. Happy baking!
Recipe by Butter Baking at https://www.butterbaking.com/2014/01/17/cherry-and-custard-tarts/