Eggnog custard tart

Method

• step 1

  Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl to combine. Add the diced butter and toss together to coat in the flour. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the beaten egg and use a knife to mix it in. Once the dough starts to form clumps, tip out onto the worksurface and bring together to form a dough. Press into a disc and chill for an hour.

• step 2

  To make the custard, put the cream, milk, vanilla, cinnamon stick and nutmeg into a large pan and slowly bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, cover and allow to infuse for an hour. Put back on the heat and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, put the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together until smooth. Pour the cream mixture through a fine sieve, over the egg yolk mixture, whisking to combine. Pour in the rum and mix again. If bubbles appear on the surface, carefully spoon these off and discard.

• step 3

  Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a floured worksurface to about 2-3mm thick. Drape into a 23cm loose-bottomed, shallow tart tin, pushing into the corners and trim any excess.

• step 4

  Re-roll any excess pastry and, using star-shaped cookie cutters in a couple of different sizes, cut out as many stars as possible. Put the stars onto a baking-paper- lined baking tray and brush with a little beaten egg yolk. Line the tart base with a crumpled piece of baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake the base and the stars for 20 minutes, or until golden. Remove the stars, and baking paper and rice from the base and put the base back into the oven for 10 minutes or until it is lightly browned. Brush the inside of the base with beaten egg yolk and put back in the oven for a minute. Remove from the oven and cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 150C/fan 130C/gas 2.

• step 5

  Put the cooked tart case (still in the tin) onto a baking tray in the oven and carefully pour in the custard. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the custard is set around the sides but has a little wobble in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before removing from the tin. Decorate the tart with the pastry stars, dust some with icing sugar, some with cinnamon and leaving some plain. This tart is best served on the day it’s made but can be refrigerated for a day or two.