These tarts are such a lovely autumnal dessert! A smooth honey custard baked in a crisp sweet pastry topped with a vanilla mascarpone cream. What’s not to love?! I’ve used The London Honey Co. Isle of Purbeck honey for this recipe. It has such a rich golden colour and has wonderful caramelly notes which complement the muscovado sugar so well.
During the winter months, all I crave is something super warming and loads of comfort food. This dessert really hits the spot! A perfect addition to a Christmas dinner or any dinner party you may have over the festive period! Plus they are delightfully simple to make if you follow these fool-proof steps to make pastry and custard!
TOP TIPS TO MASTER PASTRY AND BAKED CUSTARDS:
- Chill your pastry! This is vital when making pastry perfect. If you have soft warm pastry, when rolling it out.. you will never be able to line the tin properly and it will be so difficult! I recommend you to make the pastry far in advance so you have plenty of time to work with it.
- Don’t roll the pastry too many times. The more you handle the pastry.. the more tough it becomes and will be harder to eat.. make sure your table is lightly floured and roll it 1-2 times. The less you handle it the easier it will be to manipulate.
- Don’t overcook your custard… when it is ready, it should still be wobbly in the middle but not too set. It will continue to cook once out of the oven.. if you do overcook it, it is likely to resemble scrambled eggs!
- Use a hot knife to cut the tart if you want a beautifully neat slice! Trust me… it’s definitely worth the extra effort!
- Make sure to fill the custard all the way to the top of the pastry case.. this will ensure it is a lovely full tart (just be careful when putting it in the oven!)
- Before adding the custard to the pastry, make sure there are no holes in the pastry as the custard will leak out of the pastry and not look great!
Muscovado Honey Tartlets
A deliciously caramel tart topped with a vanilla mascarpone cream
Ingredients
- 150 g Butter
- 90 g Icing Sugar
- 250 g Plain Flour
- 30 g Ground Almonds
- 2 g Salt
- 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
- 1 Medium Egg
Filling:
- 80 g Isle of Purbeck Honey
- 2 eggs
- 300 g Double Cream
- 45 g Muscovado Sugar
- 1 ⁄2 tsp. Salt
Cream:
- 200 g Mascarpone
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 75 g Icing Sugar
- 125 g Double Cream
- 1 tsp. Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
Method:
- Firstly, the pastry. Cream the butter and sugar in a free standing mixer. Mix until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and continue to mix until completely combined.
- Add the salt, vanilla, almonds and flour to the mixture. Mix until just combined.
- Turn out onto a clean surface and knead lightly until a dough is formed. Make sure not to over mix otherwise the pastry will become tough and dry.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30minutes to an hour until firm. Roll out the chilled pastry to a thickness of 2-3mm. Make sure to lightly flour the surface and rolling pin.
- Lift up the dough and place on top of each of the tart cases, using your fingers to gently ease the pastry into the case pressing into the corners and edges.
- Using a knife, trim off the excess pastry. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius (fan). Line the tarts with baking paper or cling film and fill with uncooked rice or baking beans, then place in the oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the rice and clingfilm and cook for another 5 minutes. It should be golden brown all over the pastry.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 120 degrees celsius (fan). Now for the filling. In a small pan, heat up the cream and muscovado sugar until steaming. Whilst the cream is cooking, Whisk together the eggs and honey. Add the salt to the mixture.
- Once the cream is hot, add 1⁄3 of the cream into the egg mixture, whisking to incorporate. Then slowly add the remaining cream, making sure it is all mixed together.
- Carefully pour the mixture into the tart cases filling to the top. Place into the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes until they have set, but still have a slight jiggle.
- Remove from the oven, and leave to cool completely.
- To make the cream, whisk together the mascarpone, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth and well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until thick and peaks start to form. Fold the mascarpone mixture into the cream in two inclusions.
- To serve, add a dollop of the mascarpone cream with the tarts. Sprinkle with sea salt and lightly drizzle with honey!
