Lemon Brûlée Tarts

[cakecrumbs]

If there's one way to improve any meal, I wholeheartedly think it's by adding pastry. It's not uncommon for me to find a way to incorporate some kind of pastry into a favourite dish.



The citrus-infused brûlée is another excuse for pastry. Because really, who needs ramekins when you can just eat the base as well?





This dessert is essentially like a lemon custard tart with a toffee top. The custard is chilled overnight. But if you want a faster or warm dish, feel free to serve the custard on the night it is made. It can function both as a cool dessert for summer, or a comforting dessert for the cold wintry nights we've been having lately.



Here's how to make one:

Lemon Brûlée Tarts

Ingredients

300ml thickened cream
2 tsp grated lemon rind
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
1/3 cup sugar
seasonal fruits to serve

Method

1. Heat the cream in a pan with the lemon rind until almost boiling. Allow to cool slightly. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and lemon juice in a bowl until thick and pale.
2. Add the cream slowly, whisking constantly. Sieve into a clean pot and stir over low heat until mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour into a heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 210°C. Grease 4 shallow tart tins and line with pastry. Trim the edges and prick with a fork. Line with greaseproof paper and weight down with dried beans, rice, dry lentils or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, discard paper and weights; return to the oven for 5 minutes. Cool. 
4. To serve, remove pastry from tins and spoon custard into pastry shell and smooth surface. Sprinkle with sugar and use a blow torch to caramelise. Alternatively, you can caramelise the sugar under a grill, just cover the pastry edges with foil to stop them from burning.