Tamarillo tarts with coconut orange custard

Tamarillo tarts with coconut orange custard. Photo / Babiche Martens

Serves 4

8 tamarillos
2 cups water
1 cup caster sugar
2 sheets pre-rolled short crust pastry
1 egg
1 Tbs milk

Custard
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1 vanilla bean, split
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
3 Tbs shredded coconut
Finely grated zest of one orange
Icing sugar to serve

1 Cut a cross on the end of each tamarillo with the point of a sharp paring knife. Put into a saucepan and cover with water and sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes then let cool. Remove the fruit from the syrup, peel and slice. Simmer the liquid until it becomes syrupy.

2 Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease an oven tray and cut the pastry into 4. Whisk the egg and milk together then brush over the pastry.

3 Add slices of tamarillo then bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden, making sure the pastry is cooked underneath.

4 To make the custard, bring the milk, cream and vanilla bean to a simmer. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar.

5 Whisk in the warm milk mixture and pour into a saucepan. Cook over a gentle heat for at least 10 minutes while stirring gently with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens. Strain and stir in the scraped seeds from the vanilla pod, orange zest and toasted coconut.

6 Serve the tarts warm with the custard and a dusting of icing sugar.