Fresh Fruit Flan Crème Pâtissière
Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients You'll Need
Crème Pâtissière ingredients (from Pierre Hermé in ‘The Cook’s Book’)
250mL full-fat milk
22.5g corn starch
65g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
3 egg yolks
25g butter, at room temperature and cut into walnut-sized cubes
Fresh fruit, for topping
Apricot jam, for glazing
Directions
1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then beat in vanilla, egg and milk.
Once this is all combined, slowly add the flour till the mixture just comes together.
Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hr.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Remove lemon filling from fridge to become room temperature.
On a well-floured surface, roll out the pastry to 6mm thickness and place in the tart tin. Prick all over with a fork then place back in fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Line tart case with foil, making sure that it is completely covered then fill with pastry weights (I use uncooked rice) and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove weights and foil and bake for a further 10 minutes or till base is firm and dry. Remove from oven and cool completely.
4. Once pastry has completely cooled, begin work on the crème pâtissière - whisk together the milk, corn starch, vanilla paste and 30g of sugar in a heavy-based pan.
Slowly bring the mixture to a boil over low heat, whisking continuously till the mixture thickens and begins to bubble.
5. When the milk mixture has thickened and started to bubble whilst whisking, immediately remove from heat.
Whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 35g of sugar, then slowly pour in the milk in a thin stream, whisking continously. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and continue whisking till mixture is thick and has just begun to boil, then immediately remove from the heat.
6. Stand the pan in a shallow bowl filled with ice and leave to cool to about 60 degrees C. Once cooled, add the pieces of butter and whisk briskly till they have melted and the sauce is smooth and shiny.
Immediately pour into the cooled tart case and smooth over as the pastry cream will set and become more solid as it cools down.
7. Decorate the top of the tart with fresh prepared fruit, then heat and strain the apricot jam and carefully brush over the top of the tart to glaze it - this helps hold the fruit into place and prevents them from drying out too quickly.
8. Place into the fridge to cool and set for at least an hour, and bring back to room temperature just before serving!
