"everyone loves a tart", they used to say down at the Fitzroy caf where LB used to work. and it's true. I especially like a custard tart. and there's something particularly fetching about a petite tart as opposed to a big bloody slapper of a tart. my current trend is to shrink my desserts to tiny tiny versions of themselves. it stems from the Garfield theory- yes, the cat: it's less calories if you eat a pie cut into slices than if you eat the whole pie. Many small tarts are therefore better than one slice of a big tart. Also JG gets somewhat irascible if I make sweet munchies, as if I stand at his side with a breadknife forcing him to eat them, so I try to make them small and cute and inncouous.
and another reason why these tiny tarts are so harmless is the pastry. to get a stretchy pastry that can be rolled to a thin delicate shell it's much easier to use less butter and more milk. then you can cut them into tiny rounds and bake them in tiny paper cases or a mini-muffin pan.
I go for paper cases because I am quite retarded at all things muffin pan. I can never get the damn things out- everything always sticks or breaks. incidentally, my darling canine Sylvie Destructor also has the same problem with muffin pans. once LB baked a batch of muffins after she had recently acquired Sylvie and me as housemates, and was uninformed about rampant food-theft habits of the giant, ill-mannered Sylvie. she'd taken the pan out of the oven and left it on the bench to cool for no less than ten minutes before she came into the living room and asked me incredulously "why did you eat the tops off all my muffins?"
tiny almond custard tarts
makes 12 small tarts
pre-heat the oven to 160°c.
for stretchy pastry:
100g plain flour
25g butter
40g icing sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
enough milk to make a stiff but workable pastry (a few teaspoons should be enough)
work the butter into the dry ingredients and vanilla until it is a uniform texture, then add the milk slowly, while working, until the pastry just comes together.
roll the pastry out as thin as possible without tearing, then cut circles with a cutter, or the rim of a drinking glass.
place paper cases in muffin pan holes and gently shape a pastry round into each one.
bake until the pastry is almost cooked, about 10 minutes, in which time make the custard.
for the almond custard filling:
150ml milk
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of Amaretto
vanilla essence
a handful of flaked almonds
beat the egg and half the sugar in a bowl until well mixed.
heat the milk with the remaining sugar, Amaretto and vanilla essence, then when it's almost boiling, pour it into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously.
when the pastry cases are ready, remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 140°c.
fill each case with custard mixture and then add enough flaked almonds so that each tart has a cluster of flakes atop the custard.
return to the oven and bake until the custard is just set, about 10 minutes (wobbly or a bit wet is fine, it will set as it cools).
dust with icing sugar before serving for extra twee cuteness.
