It’s firmly autumn right here now. There’s a distinct chill within the air, the leaves are turning yellow, orange and pink and rustle underfoot. And to my poor cat’s terror, there’s an odd firework explosion right here and there in anticipation of Man Fawkes’ Day on fifth November.
It’s the season to be cosy, isn’t it? Within the evenings I gravitate to my blanket, my couch and my cat gravitates to me and we huddle cosily collectively whereas Duncan thrashes himself in his kayak in a freezing chilly Welsh river (native Wye river, the place he used to go, has been destroyed by the waste water that ‘free-range’ egg farms spew into it with impunity). Not less than this was us final week. Whereas I love him immensely I’m additionally actually pleased to not be wherever close to a chilly river right now of the 12 months. It’s humorous how our temperature gauges are so at odds with one another 😉 .
Baking is one in all my favorite autumn previous occasions and so this week I got here up with a brand new dessert that I hope you’ll take pleasure in. I’ve made custard tarts (the Portuguese pastel de nata) on this weblog earlier than however I’ve not but made their British equivalents so I’ve determined to deal with them this week. British custard tarts are encased in shortcrust pasty and as a substitute of cinnamon, which options within the Portuguese custard tarts, they get a beneficiant dusting of nutmeg.
As all issues custard, these tarts are historically made with eggs, however don’t fear my vegan model options none (obvs.) and it’s simply as scrumptious. If you’re not a stranger to pastry making, they’re fairly straightforward to make and have solely a bunch of straight ahead, simply accessible elements. They’ve been acquired with enthusiasm by my two style testers, Duncan and my pal Shelley, so I hope they’ll hit the spot for you too.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
Though it could appear counterintuitive – as these conventional pastries rely closely on eggs – my vegan model doesn’t require many or any area of interest vegan elements. It’s all quite simple and accessible in a bigger grocery store.
AP FLOUR: the pastry is made with all goal (also called plain) white flour. If you need to make these gluten-free, use a properly balanced gluten-free flour combine and a small quantity of xanthan gum to assist the pastry keep collectively.
ICING SUGAR: icing sugar, generally known as confectioner’s sugar within the US, is what I used to sweeten the pastry because it dissolves simply. In its absence, you should use 3 tbsp of caster (or superfine) sugar as a substitute.
VEGAN BUTTER: vegan butter, also called vegan block, makes the most effective pastry. I actually just like the Danish model Naturli, which is offered in lots of UK supermarkets. Naturli is unsalted so should you have been to make use of vegan butter than comprises salt you could wish to add much less or no salt to the pastry. If vegan butter is out of your attain, use coconut oil as a substitute. My suggestion is use refined model like this in order that the ultimate product doesn’t style of coconut. I additionally added a small quantity of vegan butter to the custard on the finish to make up for the fats that egg yolks add to the normal model.
OAT MILK: I used Oatly barista, a wealthy oat milk, to make the custard filling. Any wealthy (thick, not watered down) plan milk offers you a wealthy plant-based custard. My favourites are oat, soy and cashew milk.
CASTER SUGAR: sugar is used to sweeten the custard and any sugar can be utilized however I selected to make use of caster sugar because it dissolves rapidly.
CORNFLOUR / CORNSTARCH: cornflour (generally known as cornstarch within the US) is what’s used to thicken the plant milk within the place of eggs.
VANILLA: custard and vanilla are an inseparable duo, use the most effective vanilla you may afford and be beneficiant, vanilla is what provides this custard its moreish flavour.
SALT: pinch of salt affords a pleasant counterpoint to the sweetness of any dessert. I used common desk salt and a pinch of kala namak, generally generally known as eggy salt because it tastes like eggs attributable to its excessive sulphur content material.
TURMERIC: the tiniest pinch of floor turmeric is sweet so as to add for that heat harking back to custard color, however it’s completely non-compulsory should you don’t have any available.
NUTMEG: these vegan custard tarts are topped off with a beneficiant grating of nutmeg for that cosy really feel. Get complete nutmeg in your native nook retailer and grate it into custard, bechamel, bolognese – freshly floor nutmeg is a lot extra fragrant than its floor counterpart.
- 210 g / 1¾ cups white all goal flour or GF plain flour combine
- 35 g / ¼ cup icing sugar
- ½ tsp advantageous sea salt
- 1½ tsp xanthan gum (provided that utilizing GF flour)
- 100 g / ½ cup strong vegan butter or refined coconut oil
- 45-60 ml / 3-4 tbsp ice chilly water
CUSTARD FILLING
- 300 ml / 1¼ cups thick oat milk* (I used Oatly barista), divided
- 40 g / scant ¼ cup caster sugar
- 25 g / 3 scant tbsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 pinches of advantageous salt*
- 25 g / 2 tbsp vegan butter (I used Naturli) or refined coconut oil
- 1 nutmeg
METHOD
PASTRY
- Mix the flour, icing sugar, salt and xanthan gum (if making GF pastry) within the meals processor bowl. Alternatively, you can also make the pastry by hand – see photographs right here.
- Chop vegan butter (or coconut oil) into small items and add it to the dry elements. Pulse the machine a number of occasions to chop the fats into the flour.
- Step by step trickle in 3-4 tablespoons of ice chilly water whereas pulsing the combination, cease when the combination begins to resemble breadcrumbs and clumps collectively in your hand when squeezed – you wish to add as little water as attainable.
- Switch the pastry combination out of the meals processor. Gently press the dough collectively together with your arms right into a disc, however don’t knead – deal with as little as you may or else your pastry will likely be powerful.
- Wrap the pastry in a chunk of cling movie and chill within the fridge for half-hour. Begin on the custard when you wait.
- Take away the dough from the fridge, reduce it in 4 parts and roll every portion out on a calmly floured floor till the pastry is about 2-3 mm in thickness.
- Preheat the oven to 180° C / 355° F.
- Utilizing a big cookie cutter (mine was 9 cm / 3.5 inches) reduce 3 circles out of every pasty portion.
- Place every pastry circle on the highest of a muffin tin gap and really gently and slowly coax every circle into the opening, use your fingers to line the underside of the muffin gap. Stick with it till you’ve lined all the muffin holes.
- Pierce the underside of the pastry circumstances with a fork a few occasions, line every case with a small sq. of crumpled baking paper and fill with baking beads (rice or dry beans).
- Bake for 10 minutes with the baking beads, then take away the paper and the beads and bake for additional 5-10 minutes simply till the bottoms not look uncooked. Then take the pastry out of the oven and cut back the oven temperature to 150° C / 300° F.
CUSTARD FILLING
- Place cornstarch in a small bowl, slowly trickle in 60 ml / ¼ cup of oat milk whereas stirring. Stir properly till cornstarch has absolutely dissolved and no lumps stay.
- Measure out sugar and vegan butter.
- Place the remaining 240 ml / 1 cup of oat milk in a medium dimension pot on low warmth.
- Enable to the milk to almost come to a simmer earlier than whisking in sugar.
- As soon as sugar has dissolved, slowly trickle in cornstarch slurry you created in step 1 whereas whisking in the entire time, simmer for a number of seconds for the cornstarch to activate and thicken the combination.
- Now whisk in salt (I added a small pinch of eggy salt: kala namak alongside aspect common salt), vanilla and the tiniest pinch of turmeric if you want (for color solely). Take off the warmth.
- Add a lump of vegan butter and whisk it in to include it. Your vegan custard needs to be easy and shiny at this level. If it’s lumpy, you may press it via a advantageous sieve.
ASSEMBLY
- Fill every pastry case with the custard (you’ll want a couple of tablespoon per case), grate some recent nutmeg on prime.
- Bake in a 150° C / 300° F oven for about quarter-hour till the custard is simply barely set. Enable to chill down earlier than consuming – they’re greatest on the day because the pastry tends to get soggy from the filling.
NOTES
*SALT: I used common salt and a pinch of kala namak also called eggy salt, which attributable to its excessive sulphur content material tastes like eggs.
