Ingredients
- 2 cup heavy cream
- 1 vanilla bean
- 4 egg yolks, lightly beaten and strained
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into sm pieces
- 12 3" Pate Brisée tartlet shells, prebaked and cooled
Preparation
Step 1
Put the cream and the vanilla bean in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside. Combine the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar and whisk together in a bowl over simmering water until pale and fluffy. The mixture should become dense but it must not scramble; be sure that the heat is not too high. Whisking constantly, strain the cream into the egg sugar mixture. Continue cooking over simmering water for approximately 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Take care not to over cook or the mixture will separate. Remove from the heat and quickly whisk in the butter. Cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the custard and let cool to room temp. Spoon the custard evenly into the baked tartlet shells and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until the custard is set. Immediately before serving, sprinkle a small amount of sugar on top of each custard tartlet and caramelize. Slide tartlet under the broiler to caramelize the sugar. To avoid burning the crust, place thin strips of foil on the edges of the pastry. Remove the foil immediately after caramelizing.