Broken Heart Custard Tarts for World Book Night

“This book is a gift. You can keep it or pass it on, but we think you should try it. Because everything changes when we read.” (Quoted from the back of a World Book Night edition) Everything does change when you read. Books can take you places you've never been and give you experiences you never dreamed of! 

It’s World Book Night and it is the fourth year I have been chosen as a book giver! As World Book Night is a day that encourages children to read, World Book Night is a night that encourages young adults and adults to read. Each year there are about 20 titles that givers can ask to give away. This year was full of books I have already read and made it really hard to list my top three choices.

When I got the email that informed me that I was to give Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson I was thrilled. I had read it over last summer and really enjoyed it. The characters are real and the atmosphere is set to a pre-war England 1911; Mary Gibson makes you feel like you’re there. You feel for Nell and the other Custard Tarts as they get through what really were tough times.

In celebration of this book I made my very own custard tarts. I used custard powder just to stick with the theme of the book. The girls were called custard tarts because they worked at a factory that packaged powdered custard! Then I topped them some demera sugar and caramelized it so that you had to “break” through it to eat the tart. The heart shaped tart tins gave a nice touch too!

Broken Heart Custard Tarts:

Pastry: 225g plain flour; 110g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed; 80g golden caster sugar; 1 large egg; to make: Rub the butter into the flour before adding the sugar and egg. Bring the dough together with your hands and form a ball. Wrap in cling film and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes. Grease your tart tins. Roll out the chilled pastry on a lightly flour dusted surface. Cut out pieces of the dough and line each tart tin. Prick with a fork and chill in the fridge again for 20-30 minutes. Heat the oven to 170C. Line and fill each tart with parchment paper and baking beans. Blind bake for 12 minutes or so. Take out the baking beans and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the tart case is lightly browned. Leave to cool down while you make the custard. 

Custard:

Bird's Custard Powder; to make Follow instructions on package for 1 pint of custard. Helpful hint that you pour the warmed milk onto the custard paste and add more or less sugar according to taste.

To Finish:

12-18 tablespoons of demera sugar

Fill each tart with custard and leave a little rim of tart case. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of sugar onto each tart and then put under a hot grill for a few minutes until it starts to turn golden or use a blow torch to melt the sugar into a nice hard topping. Enjoy! 

As a lover of books I like to find ways of sharing that love! I have already given out more then half of my books this morning to friends and complete strangers! But I have set aside one of my copies to give to one of my readers! Just follow the instructions on the raffelcopter gadget below! It’s only open for a week so enter now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway *giveway closed 

notes: I was chosen as a World Book Night giver. World BookNight is an annual celebration of reading and books that takes place on the 23^rd of April. The giveaway is only for me to spread the love of reading further then I can do by giving them out to people in my community. Which I also love doing!
If you liked this post then you might like: My Summer Reading List, My Spring Reading List, World Book Night posts one, two, and three! Wonka Bars, Forgotten Pudding, Zebra Cake, Huffkins, Pop Cakes

The Perfect Ending {Wine & Dessert}

It’s only been a year since I started drinking wine and from the first day I immediately wished I was a wine expert!

Not only because I want to pair my food and desserts with wine, but so I can help others do it too! 

I mean it's all about helping each other right. I mean I wish someone told me how easy it was to make crème brulee! 

I should rephrase that, because I am sure someone has told me. I wish I had remembered that someone told me it was easy! 

It’s so totally simple you just make custard, bake it, chill it and sprinkle sugar on top and blowtorch it. The blowtorch is my favorite bit.

It used to be that whenever I went out for dinner I’d get crème brulee thinking it was all fancy and stuff, now I know better!

I am far from being a wine expert, but I am picking up some tips from Roberson Wine who sent me a bottle of Cyprès DdClimens 2006, Château Climens to pair with my crème brulee! Here is a quote from one of their wine experts:

"For a wine to work well with a dessert it needs to be about as sweet - otherwise one will overpower the other. But, more importantly, it needs to have enough acidity to make it feel refreshing and to cleanse the palate, otherwise the combination just becomes cloying. The best dessert wines, like those made in Sauternes (Bordeaux) by great producers such as Château Climens, have enough of everything - sweetness, richness, acidity and flavour to work perfectly with crème brûlée." ~ Anna Von Bertele, New World & French wines expert at Roberson Wine

I found the pairing to be spot on, the crème brulee was creamy and smooth and the wine was refreshing with subtle hints of apricot and almonds.

I used a classic crème brulee recipe. I was very please with my first attempt at this dessert that I used to think of as being a fancy treat. It’s still tastes amazing even though I don’t think of it as being fancy anymore.

Crème Brulee

150ml double cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

3 egg yolks

40g golden caster sugar

Demerara sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 150C/gas2, Place the cream, milk, vanilla pod, and seeds in a pan and bring to a gentle simmer over a low heat. Beat together the egg yolks and sugar. Remove the vanilla pod from the simmering milk, then slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the milk mixture until combined. Then pour the custard into 6 x 100ml ramekins or 3 x 200ml ramekin. Place in a deep roasting tray and fill the tray with warm water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-45 minutes for 100ml ramekins and 50-60 minutes if you use the 200ml ramekins. Leave to cool at room temperature before chilling in the fridge before serving. When ready to serve sprinkle the Demerara sugar and torch with a kitchen blowtorch or you could caramelize the sugar under a hot grill. Leave the sugar to harden before cracking it open with your spoon! The second best part after the blowtorch!

notes: Thank you to Roberson Wine for the wine, it was lovely. All opinions are my own. There are many ways to use used vanilla pods and many ways to use up egg whites, so don’t throw them away!! Also when I go out I tend to gravitate towards Sticky Toffee Pudding… I bet that’s super easy to make too. If you have a recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding that you love please send it my way! Crème Brulee is the perfect excuse to buy yourself a kitchen blowtorch! This recipe was taken from Jamie Oliver magazine 2013 calendar

Nothing says 'winter' like Creme Brulee lip-gloss!!

Here my Creme Brulee lip therapy is wearing a sporting Innocent Smoothie hat!

Winter is here!! My lips and hands always are dry and cracked in the winter. So, every year I buy a new lip gloss and hand cream. Usually because the one from the year before is lost or had a spin through the clothes washer! When I was a kid I had a weird obsession with lip glosses. I had a whole caboodle full of them!!

If you don't know what a caboodle is I feel sorry for your missed childhood. Kidding, but this blogger has said it all about what a caboodle stood for! Most of my collection were Lip Smacker's, I remember being about 4-5 years old and getting my first candy cane tube of Lip Smackers for Christmas. I also remember my little sister eating one of them. That was so not cool.

It's doesn't really have a distinct creme brulee smell, but it protects my lips and makes them shiny!

Anyhow...this little tin caught my eye immediately! (I'm like a mackerel) How could I resist when it's named after one of my all time favourite desserts? So, here it is keeping my lips shiny and smooth!! The hand cream I ended up picking up this year was Soap & Glory: Hand Food!

other links:  Youtube
note: I'm a little behind the times as this ltd edition came out in October! And yes I am a child of the 80's! And no I am not getting paid to write or try these products. Just my opinion and random thoughts! Thanks for reading my somewhat random post!! ;0)

Italian Home Baking by Gino D'Acampo (a book over view)

Just a few words on a new book! I have been looking at Gino's books for a while and wasn't sure which one to get if any. Then he came out with a baking book. Well timed* as baking has become popular!

This book is mostly bread, but that is a good thing. I was drooling just thinking of home made bread dipped in olive oil and vinegar!

When my friend Ricki and I used to make weekend trips to the twin cities^ we'd always go to the Minneapolis Art Institute. ^^ The cafe' was as expected over priced, but worth it! We'd get a sandwich a side of bread to dip in our olive oil and vinegar and for dessert it was a must to have crème' burlee.

It was where I had my first ever crème' burlee. I probably should have saved this story for when I make crème' brulee for the first time, but this book is what brought on this memory so here it is.

This book has some sweet stuff, but it is mostly savory which sets it apart from my other bakery books. I can’t wait to share with everyone what I make from it!

*I say it is more then a coincidence

^Minneapolis/St. Paul

^^we are art majors