Recipe: Fire Nation Crème Brûlée Tarts

‘Everything changed when the fire nation attacked…’ (Avatar: The Last Airbender). These little canape tarts (which can also be made into bigger versions for a full dessert if you wish) feature a tea custard for our tea-loving Uncle Iroh and a little pack of ‘fire flakes’ (chilli caramel shards) to sprinkle on top and set on fire/burn/melt.

Ingredients

FOR YOUR PASTRY:

50g Sugar

125g Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1cm cubes

2 Egg Yolks, beaten

200g Flour

Zest of ½ Lemon

Pinch of Salt

FOR YOUR TEA CUSTARD FILLING:

300ml Double Cream

125ml Full Fat Milk

2 Jasmine or Ginseng Tea Bags

Zest of ½ Lemon

2tbsp Cornflour

5 Medium Egg Yolks

120g Caster Sugar

FOR YOUR FIRE FLAKE TOP:

2 tbsp Water

150g Granulated Sugar

½ tsp Chilli Powder (depending on the heat of your chilli flakes you may need more or less, always test your chilli beforehand)

Method

TO MAKE THE PASTRY:

1. Sieve your flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Rub your butter into your flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Beat your egg yolks and sugar together in another bowl until your sugar has dissolved.
4. Make a well in the breadcrumbs and add your egg mix.
5. Slowly and lightly mix your flour and egg mixtures together until you’ve formed a smooth pastry. Don’t over mix. If it’s too dry add a tbsp of cold water (too wet a touch more flower).
6. Wrap in cling-film and place in the fridge to rest for half an hour before using.

TO FILL YOUR TART CASES (find tart tins that create bite-sized/canape sized tart cases):

1. Lightly flour a clean work surface.

2. Roll your pastry out with a rolling pin until it’s 0.5 cm thick.

3. Use a cookie cutter (of the right size for your tart cases) to cut out circles of pastry and line your tins with them. Trim the edges so you have a neat edge around the outside.

4. Prick the bottoms of your tart cases with the prongs of the fork a few times.

5. Put your tarts back into the fridge for an hour to set.

6. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C whilst pastry rests.

7. Make little squares of baking paper and put one in each of your cases. Fill baking paper with baking beans/rice/dried pasta to weigh it down.

8. Bake your tart cases for 8 minutes.

9. Take them out of your oven and remove the baking paper and beans/rice/pasta (I always use the baking paper to help pour them into a separate bowl to cool down). Put pastry back into the oven for 4 minutes or until golden brown throughout.

10. Allow to cool before removing from the cases.

11. Be careful when removing your cases from the tins as they can be fragile. Place them on a level plate or board and go onto the next step.

TO MAKE THE CREAM:

1. Put your milk, cream, lemon zest and tea bags into a deep pan and place onto a medium heat. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low. Allow your mixture to infuse for twenty minutes and then remove your tea bags.
2. Beat your egg yolks, cornflour and caster sugar together with a whisk until it’s become paler.
3. Pour a small amount of your milk mixture into your eggs and beat quickly with a whisk.
4. Add the rest of your milk mixture into your eggs and beat it with your whisk.
5. If your pan is clean, put your custard base back into it (if not, use a new pan) and place back onto a low-medium heat.
6. Keep stirring your custard with a wooden spoon until it thickens to a mousse-type consistency.
7. Spoon your custard into your prepared tart cases up to the top of the pastry. Use a damp teaspoon to level the custard, top each tart with a piece of cling film to cover the custard and then place into the fridge to set.

FOR YOUR FIRE FLAKES

1. Get a medium-large tray and line it with either a silicon mat or a sheet of baking paper.
2. Put 2tbsp of water into a medium pan.
3. Top your water with your granulated sugar and chilli flakes and place on a low-medium heat.
4. Allow your sugar to dissolve, without stirring it.
5. When your sugar has dissolved turn the heat up to medium-high and leave until your sugar goes a lovely deep golden brown.
6. Remove pan from the heat and pour your caramel onto your lined tray. Leave to set.
7. Once the caramel has set break it into chunks.
8. Put the chunks into a food processor and chop up the caramel until you reach fine flakes. Put portions into small bags and tie up, to serve.

TO SERVE

1. Serve your tart with a bag of fire flakes. Cover the top of your tart with fire flakes and use a blowtorch to melt onto the top (put into your hand, turn constantly and keep your fingers at the bottom of the tart. Be careful as it’s easy to burn yourself or have hot sugar pour over your fingertips).
2. Enjoy straight away.