Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Lemon custard hearts


In the kitchen there is a box full of the things I use when I bake, there is muffin cups, icing, cookie cutters, different tools and ingredients and then there is a load of little metal tins in different shapes, sizes and varieties that are very valuable to me. I got them from my mum, and she got them from her mum and I just love using them because of the history to them. When making these shortbread biscuits filled with custard, a very typical Swedish treat usually made in heart shaped tins, I felt quite lucky to come from a family with people who shared and shares my interest in cooking and baking. My grandmother was a very good home-cook and baker, she made the most amazing chocolate fudge and baked the yummiest buns with almond paste...
When I decided to use the heart shaped tins and make these pastries I made a small change to the recipe, not so surprising at this stage...do I ever follow a recipe completely I wonder? It was only a tiny change though; the vanilla flavoured custard, as the recipe called for, was swapped for a lemon flavoured custard because I like tangy things and I had no good vanilla at home. Simple like that!

Dough
120 grams plain flour
100 grams butter
30 grams cornflour
25 grams caster sugar

Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add both types of flour gradually while stirring into a smooth dough. Let the dough chill in the fridge while making the custard.

Custard
1 egg yolk
100ml milk
1/2tbsp cornflour
1tsp caster sugar
zest of one lemon+2tbsp juice

Mix egg yolk and cornflour. Heat milk, sugar and lemon zest until it nearly starts to boil. Pour the liquid over the egg yolk while whisking. Put the mix back into the pot and on a medium heat bring the mix to 85C, or until it starts to thicken, while stirring constantly. When thick (but not scrambled!!) take off the heat and add the lemon juice. Let cool down before straining the lemon zest away.

Roll out half of the pastry and line 8 small pie tins or what ever moulds you are using. Fill with the custard and roll out the rest of the pastry to cover the top. Bake for 10-15min on 200C until golden.

2 comments:

  1. They sound and look delicious! With the vanilla custard they would be a perfect sweet snack for cold winter weekends. Mmmh... it's bookmarked.

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  2. Oh thank you! They are quite the treat, very filling but oh so yummy..lemon makes them a little lighter in flavour, but nothing can beat real homemade vanilla custard:)

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