One of the many ways to use your homemade elderflower cordial. You can serve this with some fresh strawberries or add a few small gooseberries to the custard for added zing but I think it’s just as good on it’s own.
Ingredients
Pastry:
11g plain flour
30g caster sugar
75g cold butter
1 egg
Custard:
2 eggs plus 2 yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
300ml double cream
300ml elderflower cordial
Icing sugar for dusting
Recipe
To make the pastry, whizz the flour, sugar, and cold butter in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk only and 1/2 tablespoon of ice cold water. Add a little extra water in small amounts if needed to bring the dough together. As soon as it binds, remove it from the food processor, shape it into a disc, wrap in clingfilm or the equivalent and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
You will need a 22cm/8 1/2 inch diameter loose-bottomed tart tin or 8 smaller tins if you want to make individual tarts. We think the recipe works best for the larger tart. When the pastry is cool, roll it out until it is large enough to line the bottom of your tin/tins. leave a little overhang for when you trim the pastry, to allow for shrinkage when baked. Prick the pastry with a fork and put in the freezer for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F gas mark 4. If the pastry is frozen or well chilled you shouldn’t have to mess about with lining the tin before baking.
Bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the bottom and sides of the pastry with the leftover egg white, then pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes. This will help to seal the pastry. Take the pastry shell out of the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/135°F/gas mark 3.
To make the custard: put the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cream and elderflower cordial in a bowl and whisk them together well. Put the pastry shell on a large baking sheet in the oven. Pull out the oven shelf out slightly and pour the custard carefully into the pastry shell. Don’t overfill it, as the pastry will turn soggy if it overflows. If you’re making the large tart bake for around 35 minutes however the smaller tarts take less time so check either size after 20 minutes. The custard should rise up slightly at the edges and be just set in the middle. Don’t allow it to rise fully or the custard could split and the texture won’t be as good.
Remove from the oven and leave it to cool completely. Don’t worry if the surface cracks a little, just dust with a little icing sugar.
Enjoy!