Crème Brûlée Tart

Kirsten Tibballs

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 10

Ingredients

190g unsalted butter, room temperature

15g brown sugar

7g salt

10g egg yolks, room temperature (½ an egg yolk)

50g water

250g plain flour, sieved

Extra flour for dusting

Vegetable oil spray

Custard Filling

240ml full cream milk

90ml thickened cream

3g lemon zest

1½ tsp vanilla bean

120g brown sugar

50g custard powder

70g egg yolk (approx 3 large egg yolks)

200g crème fraiche

45g unsalted butter, room temperature

To serve

1 punnet raspberries

1 punnet blueberries

120g caster sugar

Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Beat the butter and sugar until smooth and completely free from lumps. Add the salt and egg yolks followed by the water and then the flour. Continue to beat until the mixture forms a soft dough. Press the dough into a neat flat square and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes or overnight. Lightly dust the workbench and dough with flour and roll the dough out to 2-3mm in thickness. Cut the dough into a disc approximately 260mm in diameter, or large enough to line your tart ring. Lightly spray the tart ring with the oil and place the pastry disc into the ring. Press the disc into the sides and bottom edge of the ring. There will be some excess dough overhanging the rim of the tart ring at this stage. Wrap the pastry-lined tart ring in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan-forced.

Unwrap the tart ring and place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Line the tart shell with baking paper and fill it to the top with baking beads or rice. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, until the tart shell, begins to turn light golden in colour. Carefully remove the baking beads/rice and baking paper and return the tart shell to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the bottom of the pastry is a light golden colour. Allow the tart shell to cool slightly before trimming the excess pastry around the top of the shell

In a saucepan, combine the milk, thickened cream, lemon zest and cut and scraped vanilla bean and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, add the brown sugar, custard powder and egg yolks and whisk to combine.

Add the crème fraiche to the custard mixture and whisk to combine.

Once the cream mixture comes to a boil, pour it over the custard mixture while whisking.

Transfer the mixture into the saucepan and return it to the stove. On low heat, continuously whisk until the mixture thickens and reaches 72°C. Pour the custard into a jug. Add the room temperature butter and emulsify with a stick blender until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan-forced. Scatter half of the raspberries and blueberries over the base of the tart shell. Place the tart shell, still in the tart ring, onto a baking tray. Pour the custard over the berries until it is slightly below the rim of the tart shell.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until the custard is set.

Allow the tart to cool completely before removing it from the tart ring. Sprinkle the caster sugar evenly over the top of the tart. Use a torch to caramelise the sugar.

Garnish the tart with the remaining berries and a dusting of icing sugar.