Do you know what I think Mayflowers are, Marilla? I think they must be the souls of the flowers that died last summer, and this is their heaven.
L.M. Montgomery,
Anne of Green Gables
Sweet or savory, last year was the year of the galette, this year the tart. Sometimes I like the simplicity of a galette, but I love how pretty a tart looks, and how it can be served in such a variety of ways, in beautiful pans or free-standing. Also, it’s more shallow than a pie, so it doesn’t require as much filling.
For this peaches and cream custard tart I used metal flower-shaped molds on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, no pan. I followed my simple, no kneading, no rolling dough recipe HERE, and once that was baked and cooled, I topped the center with my pastry cream recipe below. It’s repeated in several recipes throughout this site and one of my favorites, so I thought it was time to write it out all by itself.
I topped the tart with thinly sliced peaches and a heavy dusting of powdered sugar to accentuate the flower petals. This one is meant to be served at room temperature or best chilled, so there’s no need to cook the peaches, just make sure the crust is cooled before topping with cream and fruit. You may use fresh in season or canned, peeled or unpeeled as you prefer. All decorative flowers removed before eating.
Enjoy!
Pastry Cream
Ingredients
- 236 mL whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk yolks together with sugar, cornstarch and flour until well combined, set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, bring milk, vanilla and butter to a light simmer, stirring continuously just until you see tiny bubbles begin to form around edges of pot. Don't walk away from this, because it simmers quickly and if it boils you need to discard it.
- Quickly lift pot from heat to avoid boiling, then using a strainer pour a little at a time in a thin stream into yolk mixture, whisking continuously to avoid lumps.
- Pour egg and milk mixture back into saucepan and place over medium-low heat to bring back to a light simmer, whisking continuously. You will notice the mixture thicken, once it thickens, cook lightly by whisking continuously for additional minute or so. Remove from heat and let cool. I've had no film form on top of the cream, but should it form just remove carefully before using.
- If using cream same day, set aside at room temperature. If baking next day, refrigerate until ready to use.