A lovely young friend joined me here last week for a morning of gluten free cooking, and as it turns out, recipe exploration and development.

She suggested we might make something with custard. We matched this with the recipe for gluten free sweet pastry and before we knew it, we had developed a whole new recipe for gluten free custard tarts.

They really did taste very good indeed.

We made a great deal of other gluten free favourites of course from sausage rolls to cakes, bread, focaccia and pasta dish.

However, with family visiting yesterday, I couldn’t resist the temptation to bake those custard tarts once more.

It was such a wonderful morning this young friend and I spent together – even better when the synergy provided a new gluten free family favourite.

Recipe to follow the photo. Let me know if you have any queries regarding the recipe.

GLUTEN FREE CUSTARD TARTS

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

125g salted butter, softened

125g sugar

1 egg

¼ teaspoon gluten free baking powder

250g gluten free plain flour

+

1 egg white for brushing pastry

Method

Whisk the butter and sugar together until light, then whisk in the egg.  Fold in the combined baking powder and flour until the mixture forms a soft dough. (You might need to get your hands into the mixture to achieve this, but it will come together.)

Shape to a rectangle 1cm thick, wrap in cling film or similar and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Custard Filling

7 teaspoons maize cornflour

2 eggs

2 ¼ cups full cream milk

¼ to 1/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

+

1 teaspoon (approximately) ground nutmeg to sprinkle over tarts before baking

Whisk the cornflour, eggs and ¼ cup milk together until well combined.

Heat the other 2 cups milk until boiling, them whisk in the egg and cornflour mixture and continue to cook over medium-low heat until it thickens.  Mix in vanilla and sugar to taste.

Cover surface with cling film or baking paper and set aside to cool completely.

To assemble for baking:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C, fan forced.  Grease 8 x 150ml  (approx.) capacity tarts tins and line base of each with a circle of baking paper.  Grease again.

Cut pastry into 8 even sized pieces and shape each into a ball.  On a surface that has been dusted lightly with gluten free flour, roll each ball out to fit the tart tins and press gently into place. (Don’t worry of the pastry breaks a little in the process, just press the pieces back together again, it will be fine.)

Once in place, brush with a little of the whisked egg white.  Fill the cases with the cooled custard, level out with the back of a spoon and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.

Remove from oven and leave to stand in tins for 8 to 10 minutes, after which the tarts should be carefully turned out one at a time and inverted to right way up, then left to cool on a wire rack.