Peach tart is a trip down memory lane for me. When I went back to college at 18 for a year after I slightly messed up my A-Levels, I studied professional cookery; and when I think back, peach tart is the recipe I remember. I remember chomping down on half a tart on the drive home in my Fiat Punto and loving all of this access to food, and there was me wondering why I gained a stone that year? There’s two main elements to this tart- the crust and the filling. The crust has to be thin, not too thin to break but thin enough to give you a nice crunch. The crust is quite sticky before it is chilled, and needs to be rolled on grease proof paper to keep its shape. The creme patisserie is well set and not too sweet, topped off majestically with peaches. The tart takes about 1hr 30 minutes in total to make and makes about 8 portions.
Equipment
- 2 bowls
- Wooden spoon
- Table knife
- Saucepan
- Measuring jug
- Loose bottomed flan tin
- Grease proof paper
- Rolling pin
- Baking beads
- Sieve
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 egg
- 50g caster sugar
- 100g butter
- 200g plain flour
For the creme patisserie
- 2 eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- 50g plain flour
- 10g custard powder
- 500ml milk
- vanilla pod/ essence
- 2 tins of peaches
Method
For the crust
- Lightly cream the egg and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add in the butter in small chunks, and mix until semi combined.
- Sieve in the flour and stirr together, this might take a bit of force but be patient, you should be left with a sticky dough. Wrap the dough in floured grease proof/ cling film and chill for at least an hour, as this helps the pastry to relax and firm up.
- When sufficiently chilled, roll out onto well floured grease proof paper to the size of your flan tin.
- Flour your flan tin and line up your dough over the tin, carefully peeling the grease proof paper off. press into all sides of the tin, pierce the bottom with a fork, then line with the same grease proof paper and fill with baking beads.
- Put in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the beads and grease proof paper.
For the creme patisserie
- Whisk together the eggs and sugar until lighter in colour and foamy.
- Sift in the flour and custard powder and mix to a smooth paste.
- Boil the milk and vanilla essence together (make sure you keep an eye on this and remove from the heat when lots of bubbles appear)
- Carefully pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and combine, then pour straight back into the pan, back on the heat and stir constantly, the mixture will thicken almost instantly!
Assembly
- Pour the mixture into the tart crust and smooth out the top.
- Arrange the peaches on top in whatever pattern you like.
- Put into the oven at 160°C for 35 minutes.
- Carefully remove the flan ring and put back into the oven for 10 more minutes.
- When the tart is ready, it should have a small jiggle. Leave to cool and set.
- Slice and serve.