Brielle's Avalon

I’ve been seeing Custard Tarts mentioned on As Time Goes By (a British comedy) for years now and keep meaning to make some. I finally did. I looked up a few recipes, took notes and did my best on a batch of 6. Not bad for a first time and this is the first time I’ve made pie crust with an egg. I’ll have to remember this. They were quite nice for tea when the British comedies came on and the scones were good, too.

I realized while making these that I’d have 3 leftover egg whites, so this time I made meringue cookies. Next time I’ll plan better, make a double batch and make lemon tarts as well so I can have somewhere to put most or all of the meringue. Besides, lemon tarts are nice at tea, too.

1c flour

about an oz of ground nuts

1/4 c sugar

Mix well

4 oz cold butter, sliced into bits

mix these well and with a fork, 2 knives, a multi-bladed cutter like in the picture or just smush them into the flour with your fingers until it resembles coarse sand. Then make into a volcano in the bowl.

Add 1 egg

Mix as well as you can with a spoon, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just enough for it to hold together.

Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for about 30 minutes while you prep the filling and the baking muffin pan.

1 1/4 c milk, in a 2c glass measuring cup. Warm this to just over body temperature in the microwave.

3 egg yolks, leaving the whites in another bowl for later.

1/4 c sugar

Mix the sugar with the yolks well.

Add vanilla if you like.

Add to the warm milk and whisk til frothy.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease the muffin pans you plan to use. If you like you can cut waxed paper into strips to use as slings to help pull the tarts out. You can also use cupcake cups to line the muffin tins, too.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Lightly flour a surface and divide it into 6 equal sections. Roll each section out until it’s big enough to line a muffin cup, just bigger than a cupcake liner.

Or estimate and slide the waxed paper strips under them and press carefully into a muffin spot.

Once you have them in, even up the edges and, if you like, flute or crimp or just press into the tin just above the edge. Next time I think I’ll skimp the crimp and even them out.

Now fill the crusts with the custard and grate nutmeg on top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning half way through baking. If the edges start to get too brown mask it with aluminum foil. If you want scones with tea, throw them together now and turn the tarts when you out them in the oven. Then whip up the meringue, whether you use it for lemon tarts or little cookies. Or just stick to tarts, especially if you’re doing them the day before.

I waited too long on this bake, but it wasn’t as bad as it looks.

They might take a bit of coaxing to come out. All but one just needed loosening at the top crimping. The cupcake cups came out better but the waxed paper strips were easier to get off once they were out. I only had once catastrophic failure and that was from one of the strip-lines cups. The strips were easier to get off the underside of the tarts, though. If you made meringue, when the tarts come out of the oven you can put some waxed paper on a cookie sheet and spoon the meringues into bite-sized cookies and put them in the cooling oven. You may have to turn it back to 170 later to finish drying them out. Or you can cover and refrigerate them until a more convenient time.

Serve at tea, dessert, late night snack or just any time you fancy one. My tea guest decided that scones should be opened upside-down. Whatever works.

I have recipes for scones and meringue cookies if you want to browse my blog posts. Or not, it’s up to you, but there’s some fun stuff in there.