GINGER BRÛlÉE TARTS

We couldn’t resist sharing this bakery favourite from our first book! At the bakery, we use a 45% fat cream that is often hard to find in shops; the recipe below uses cream with a 35% fat content, which results in a softer brûlée filling.

If you prefer, leave out the blowtorch step and serve the tarts simply filled with the ginger custard — just sprinkle a few pistachio nuts on top.

Makes 20 tarts, 8 cm (3¼ inches) in size

720 ml (25 fl oz) thin (pouring) cream (35% fat)

5 cm (2 inch) piece of fresh ginger, finely sliced

1 cardamom pod, bruised

½ cinnamon stick

10 egg yolks

80 g (2¾ oz/ ¹/₃ cup) caster (superfine) sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

20 x 8 cm (3¼ inch) blind-baked Sweet shortcrust pastry shells (see here)

1½ tablespoons pistachio nuts, chopped

Put the cream, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon stick in a saucepan over high heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat, pour into a container, cover with plastic wrap, and chill overnight for the flavours to infuse.

Reheat the cream mixture to simmering point in a saucepan over medium–high heat, then remove from the heat and set aside until needed.

Whisk the egg yolks in a stainless steel bowl. Add the sugar and whisk for about 30 seconds, until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the infused cream through a fine sieve, discarding the spices, then whisk into the egg yolk mixture.

Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir with a whisk for 10–15 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and thick, scraping down the side of the bowl regularly with a rubber spatula. Keep stirring at all times or the mixture will curdle.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk for 2 minutes to cool. Over the next hour, whisk every 10 minutes until cooled. Clean the side of the bowl with a spatula, lay plastic wrap on the surface of the mixture and chill overnight to set.

Using a piping (icing) bag fitted with a plain nozzle, pipe the custard into the cooled blind-baked pastry shells, just slightly overfilling each one. With a small pallet knife, scrape the custard so it’s flush with the top of the tart shells. Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon caster sugar over the top of each tart and burn with a blowtorch to caramelise the top. Sprinkle a few pistachios on top to serve.

The ginger brûlée cream will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, but the filled tarts will not last longer than a day.