Custard Tarts and Fish Fingers

Lately I have been watching a new TV show from the BBC called the Great British Bake Off.  One of the segments on the show requires the contestants to take on a recipe from one of the two main judges and making them to the judges standards.  Right before the challenge begins the judges are shown at a table with a perfect representation of the challenge recipe.  During Amy and my trip to France we enjoyed several sugar crusted custards called creme bruelees.  So when I saw the contestants making these custard tarts I thought of those great creme brulees.  I decided to take on the same challenge as the contestants and I found the recipe by Paul Hollywood.  If you want to see some great bakery and pastries look up the great British Bake Off on Youtube.

So the biggest issues that I found while making these tarts the recipe didn't give any real thickness for the tart pastry.  So this was my problem I made them about a quarter inch thick and what I found was that some would turn out fine.  So if I do this again I would make them a little thicker.  The second major issue I found was when I prepared the custard.  The recipe is written using weights and British terms for ingredients.  So it says to warm the milk and in a separate bowl it says to whip the egg yolks and caster sugar. Caster sugar is what the British call cane sugar.  So the real problem is when you add the warm milk to the whipped egg yolk and sugar.  So if you whip to quickly you will create small foam bubbles and it makes the pouring in the shells impossible.  You have to transfer the custard to a pourable container because its easier to pour the custard in the shells on the shelf in the oven instead of trying to carry the filled pan full of filled shells.  I hope that my pushing myself to be a better baker, makes you guys step out of your comfort zone and try new food recipes.

Recipe
For the sweet pastry

 165g/5¾oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

 25g/1oz ground almonds 

 120g/4¼oz chilled unsalted butter, cubed

 55g/2oz caster sugar 

 1 free-range egg 

For the custard filling

  700ml/1¼ pint full-fat milk 

  7 free-range egg yolks 

  90g/3¼oz caster sugar 

  freshly ground nutmeg

First mix all the dry ingredients for the crust together then cube your butter and then mix with your fingers.

This is what you dough should look like after you add the butter. So to this mix in the egg and knead until it becomes a nice dough and pulls away from the bowl.  At which point allow this to chill for 30 minutes.  Roll out to larger then a 1/4 inch thick and cut out circles about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. I used a cupcake tin to bake the tarts.  Preheat to 400F. The next parts were really hard and I didn't get to many pictures.  So heat milk mix those into the yolks and sugar mix (don't over mix when you add the milk or you will have to much foam and its hard to pour). Bake for 25 minutes.

The top should have a little color and still have a little giggle to them let these cool in the pan for 30 minutes then comes the fun of removing from the pan.  The black bubbles on the tin were from the foam that was created for over mixing.  Next time I would allow the custard to sit allowing the foam to subside a small amount.

At this point its enjoy.  These are little on the go egg custards the hold up pretty well.  My personal addition to this is my favorite part and my dad's wife Marie loves as well. Take more cane sugar and put it on the top of these and hit it with the blowtorch for that creme brulee crunchy sugar top.