Amanda Laird: Baked custard tart

Picture / Babiche Martens

Serves 6-8

Sweet pastry
Makes about 400g
1 cup plain flour
1 Tbsp caster sugar
Pinch salt
75g cold butter
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp cold water
Squeeze of lemon

1. Place flour, sugar and salt in food processor and combine. Whisk the egg yolk, water and lemon and set aside.

2. Cube the butter and drop into the flour, pulse while adding the egg mixture. When pastry just begins to form a ball, stop and remove from bowl. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until ready to use.

Custard tart
Sweet pastry (see above)
1 egg white, whisked
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups full cream milk
3 Tbsp castor sugar
Nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 20cm loose-base tart tin with pastry, rest for 30 minutes then cover with baking paper and dried beans and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, remove beans and paper then brush pastry with egg white. Return pastry to the oven for 5 minutes.

2. Whisk eggs, cream, milk and sugar, then strain. Pour mixture into the pastry shell (it may be easier to do this on the oven shelf) and carefully slide tray into oven. Bake for about 50 minutes or until custard is just set. Grate nutmeg over while warm.