I have been meaning to put this on the site for a while, but somehow, whilst made it a number of times over the late summer, I didn’t quite get round to it. So here goes, although if you are to do this, you need frozen blackcurrants because fresh are no longer available. For me, however, my top three fruit are blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries. I can’t quite decide which are best, but they all really pack in great flavour.
Pastry – Short and sweet – makes enough for 2 tarts – serves 8-10 each.
I pack of butter (250g)
I small bag of plain flour (500g)
Just under half a small bag of sugar (220g)
2 Eggs
1tsp vanilla essence or vanilla paste (see favourite ingredients)
Filling
2 punnets blackcurrants (taken off their stems)
1 pint double cream
6 egg yolks
3 tbl caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 vanilla pod
This is a classic set custard tart with fruit in it. It will need to cool after cooking so make it in advance, otherwise the custard filling won’t set.
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Start by making the pastry, Pastry – Short and Sweet, and baking it blind. All of the ingredients and tips are on the link, so just click through. You may even have some frozen and ready to go from the last time you made it.
So at this stage you should have crisp blind baked tart case. This time don’t let the tart case cool. Mix the sugar with the egg yolks, add the vanilla and add the double cream. Whisk well.
Put the blackcurrants into the tart case. Now pour the custard mixture in right to the top of the tart case. Put this in the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes until the filling is just setting, it shouldn’t be liquid anywhere, but it shouldn’t quite be firm. Turn the oven off and open the door to let the custard cool gently. Take it out and let it cool fully and then put in the fridge to properly set. Serve with clotted cream.
