Over the last couple of months I've been developing cakes and desserts inspired by my nearest and dearest. A combination of my favourite memories along with their personal palate and personality resulted in several delicious creations, which I will slowly post about over the coming months.
This one is called 'The Olivia'. My dear Liv now lives over in Paris, however, we initially bonded over chai tea and every time I drink a traditional Indian masala chai, I think of her. It seemed only fitting that I not only created a chai infused custard tart in her honour, but busted out some Beyonce tunes while baking it.
I have infused the butter with T2 certified organic chai, while the custard includes one of my favourite ingredients of late - the magical vanilla bean paste.
INGREDIENTS:
Pastry
250 grams unsalted butter
10 tb good quality chai tea leaves
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp each of ground cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves (optional)
1 tb iced water, if necessary
Custard
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tb caster sugar
1/4 ground nutmeg
METHOD:
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. When completely melted, add the chai tea leaves. Steep for 5 minutes on a low heat, and then remove from heat and continue to steep for another 5 minutes. Strain the leaves through a sieve as you pour it into a container, taking care to press down on the leaves to release all of the butter. Set aside to cool to room temperature, and then put it in the fridge until it has completely set.
Cut the butter into cubes, and put in a food processor with the flour and sugar (add the extra spices here, if desired). Process until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, add the egg yolk, and continue to process until the dough just comes together. If the dough is struggling to come together, gradually add the iced water to help it along. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's just smooth, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease a 20cm false bottomed tart tin. Roll out the pastry until it is roughly 5mm thick, and line the tin with the pastry. Chill for another 10 minutes in the fridge.
Place a sheet of crumpled baking paper over the pastry, and cover with coins or pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the weights, and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 160. Set tart aside to cool.
Whisk milk, eggs, egg yolk, vanilla bean paste and caster sugar together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Pour the milk mixture onto the pastry base, and bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the nutmeg over the custard, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes or until custard is just set. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and then refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
