Custard Tartlets

I'm secrectly a big fan of the portugese egg custard tart. I'll happily buy a pack of two from a supermarket and eat them both in one sitting, but I'd never made custard before, let alone a custard tart. As a collegue had kindly gifted me some eggs from his own ducks, now was my opportunity to see how tricky they are.

First I made the pastry. But, I'd learnt my lesson from the time I made lemon tartlets. Not only was I super careful not to overhandle the pastry, keeping it as cold as possible in our unbareably hot flat, but I also doubled the ingredients from the get-go.

As usual, the recipe didn't tell you how thin to roll the pastry, I made mine about 3-5mm thick, and cut out using a new set of cutters (again, lemon tartlets taught me not to use the blunt edge of a mug!!)

Next was my first attempt at making custard. I had no idea how warm to heat the milk to, so I err-ed on the side of hand-hot. The duck eggs were quite big, but as I was doubling the recipe I used two and hoped they would bake okay. I also added a dash of vanilla essence - not required by the recipe, and was relieved that the mixture didn't curdle or scramble once I mixed the milk & egg together.

The final touch was a grating of nutmeg, then they went into the oven for 30minutes.

In the oven, the custard mixture rised a little and in some cases, split. But once out the oven it sank back down again. Maybe I whisked the eggs a bit too much.

The final result had exactly the flavour I'm used to from shop bought egg custard tarts, except mine were far to shallow - I prefer the depth of the shop bought ones. I also think my pastry was still a little too thick, but I'm not confident enough to roll it too thin - I don't want it spliting.

Custard tartlets

1 egg

15ml / 1 tbsp caster sugar

125ml milk

pinch of grated nutmeg

Sweet short crust pastry

100g plain flour

1/4tsp salt

50g margarine

1 tsp caster sugar

flour for rolling

Set the oven to 180C / gas 4. To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar. Add enough cold water (about 2-3 tablespoons) to make a stiff dough. Press the dough together with your fingertips. Roll out and use to line twelve 3' patty tins.

Beat the egg lightly in a bowl and add the sugar. Warm the milk in a saucepan, then pour it onto the egg. Strain the custard mixture into the pastry cases and sprinkle a little nutmeg on top of each. I also added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Bake for about 30minutes, until the custard is firm and set. Leave to cool before removing from the tins.