Caramel Milk Tart

Wow long silence. Exams. Excuses. Excuses. I have been baking but not blogging so over the next few weeks expect a few!

Anyway first up here is a custard tart with a caramel crumble topping.

Ingredients:
Pastry:
250g plain flour
50g icing sugar
125g cold butter
1 egg
A splash of semi-skinned milk

Filling:
600ml milk
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 knob of butter
2 eggs
2 tbsps of cornflour
1.5 tbsps of plain flour
75g caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Caramel:
130g caster sugar
3 tbsps water

Method:
Rub cubes of butter into the flour and icing sugar until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg and work together before adding a splash of milk so that the pastry forms a scruffy ball. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill for 2 hours.

Grease a 24cm tin and roll the pastry to 0.5 cm thickness. Put pastry into the tin and prick the base then freeze for 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Then fill the pastry case with baking beans on a layer of grease-proof paper. Then bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and then bake for another 10 minutes.

For the filling heat the milk with vanilla extract and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and then stir in the butter until it melts. In a bowl mix the eggs with cornflour, flour and sugar and then when the milk has cooled gradually whisk into the egg mixture. Tip back into the pan and place over a low hear until thickened, whisking constantly. Pour in to pastry case and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake for 20 minutes.

Melt the sugar in a non-stick pan with water over a medium heat until lightly golden then pour onto a sheet until it cools. Then smash the caramel into pieces and crumble over the top.