Chocolate Custard Tart

Sometimes it seems that the few things guaranteed to keep my kids happy are also the things that I find especially annoying.

YouTube videos of strangers playing with toys, watched on my phone of course.

Playdoh in all its guises.

Sticker books where the stickers inevitably end up on my furniture rather than the book.

There are however two things that keep us all happy.

Watching Muppet Treasure Island for the 7690th time (Tim Currys greatest performance) and baking of course.

Pastry is always a firm fave here and we had a lot of yolks to use up: thus the chocolate custard tart was born.

Buttery shortcrust pastry filled with a smooth rich chocolate custard. Perfect for Sunday afternoon tea.

You will need a 25cm pie or quiche dish, lightly greased or non stick.

Ingredients

For the pastry

150g real butter
150g caster sugar
300g plain flour
1 egg
Tablespoon water

For the chocolate custard

4 egg yolks
350ml milk
30g sugar
20g cornflour
150g chopped plain chocolate

Preheat oven to 180°c/ Gas mark 4.

Beat the butter into the sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour until combined then an egg and a tablespoon of of cold water and bring into a dough. If your dough is still too dry to come together, continue adding water a teaspoon at a time until you have a firm dough.

Roll out to 2cm thickness and pop in tart tin. Dont worry if you need to press into the cake tin to patch holes or gaps.

If you like your pastry crisp its worth blind baking. This is when you bake the tart crust for a short time before filling to make sure its cooked through by the time your tart is finished. If a soggy bottom suits you then feel free to skip the next stage.

Put a sheet of baking paper over the top and if you have baking beans use them to blind bake. If not, put a smaller tin on top to weigh down the pastry (under the baking paper) and blind bake for 10 minutes.

While it is in the oven, make the custard.

In a large jug or bowl, whisk the egg yolks into the cornflour, sugar and a splash of the milk until smooth.

In a saucepan heat the remaining milk over a gentle heat until very hot but not boiling.

Pour into the egg mixture while stirring. Pour back into the saucepan and while stirring add the chopped dark chocolate.

When all the chocolate is melted in, remove the pastry from the oven and remove the baking beans/top tin and baking paper. Pour in the custard mixture. Turn the oven down to 140°C (gas mark 1) and bake for 30 minutes or untill the custard is completely set.