TARTE A LA CREME

Prep time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time

Cook time: 25 minutes

Serves 4

I’ve eaten cream tarts all over France but in fact one of the best was served at a French restaurant in London, Chez Max, which sadly no longer exists. It hits the spot as a simple but indulgent dessert, or an afternoon-tea pastry. The French don’t have the style of fresh double cream we have; much of their cream is long-life and you should look for this (not necessarily in the fridge) to get the flavour as close as possible to versions of the tart found in France. When the cream reduces it sets like a clotted cream consistency.

INGREDIENTS

– 200g ready-rolled butter puff pastry

– 700ml UHT double cream

– 60g caster sugar

– 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

METHOD

You’ll need four shallow, individual tart tins for this (approx 10cm diameter and 2cm deep), as I find one large one makes a tart that’s too messy to slice and serve.

Cut out circles of the pastry large enough to line the tins, pressing the pastry carefully into the sides. Place a circle of crumpled then smoothed-out greaseproof paper in each one and fill with baking beans. Place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.

Put the cream in a saucepan with the sugar, vanilla pod and seeds. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring with a whisk every so often, until it has thickened and reduced by half.

Meanwhile, bake the tarts for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beans and greaseproof paper and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes, pushing the pastry back down if it has risen, then remove the pastry cases from the tins.

Discard the vanilla pod from the cream. Fill the tarts with the mixture and leave to set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before serving.