Vanilla Creme Brulee Tart

Today is my husband's birthday! He was made to choose between a chocolate cake or a vanilla creme brulee tart. He likes to eat creme brulee and since I rarely make it, it was not a difficult decision to make.

I got the idea of making this tart after tasting one, many moons ago, in a cafe during a gathering with my church friends.

The crunchy caramelized (brulee) sugar. 

Creme Brulee Tart 
(makes 1, 18 cm round tart)
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:

135g organic unbleached all purpose flour (ordinary all purpose flour will work too)

1 1/2 Tbsp icing sugar

68g unsalted butter, cold

1/8 tsp salt
1 - 2 Tbsp cold water
1 egg white

Steps to pastry:

• Place flour, sugar and butter into a mixing bowl, using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until mixture resembles breadcrumb. (work fast in during humid weather)
• Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture, when pressed in your hand, is able to just hold together.
• Pour the mixture onto a cling wrap and press the mixture to form a round disc. Wrap it in the cling wrap and chill for 30 min.
• Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
• Roll out the dough a little bigger than 18cm pie ring/pan and place the dough into the pie ring/pan. Using your finger to press the dough into the flute of the pan. Using a fork, dork the base of the tart.
• Line the inside of the tart with a baking paper and pour some beans on paper to weigh down the pastry.
• Bake for 15 - 20 min with the weights
• Remove the beans and baking paper and bake the tart for another 10 min until light golden in color.
• Brush the inside of the tart with the egg white and place in oven for another 5 min. This is to create a waterproof layer between the tart shell and the custard so that the tart shell will not turn soggy.
• Reduce oven temperature to 150 degrees Celsius. 

Custard Filling
Ingredients  
222ml of heavy cream
119ml milk
3 egg yolks + 1 egg
75g sugar, divided 50g will be used for making the custard while 25g will be used to brulee the surface of the tart
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped into a pot/ 2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps to custard:

• While tart shell bakes, split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into a saucepan with tip of a pairing knife. Add the pod to saucepan together with cream and milk. Heat over medium heat until hot or barely coming to a simmer, then turn off heat and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes.
• Whisk yolks and an egg together with 50g of sugar and salt. Then Whisk the egg mixture into the cream mixture until smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a cup that have a pouring spout or the measuring cup.
• Put tart shell in a 4-sided sheet pan. Put it in the oven (150 degrees Celsius), then pour custard into the shell. Bake until the custard is just set but still slightly wobbly in the center, 20 - 22 minutes (custard will continue to set as it cools).
• Let tart cools for 30 minutes then remove side of pan from the tart and let it continue to cool to room temperature, 1 hour.
• Just before serving, sprinkle remaining sugar evenly over the top of tart and move blow torch flame evenly back and forth just above top of tart, avoiding crust until sugar is caramelized and slightly brown. Let the surface cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Note:
The tart, without caramelized top, can be made 1 day ahead, then chilled (loosely covered once cool). Gently blot any moisture from the surface before caramelizing. 

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