The French Flan - Custard Tart

A Home-made flan like in french bakery shops. A touch of vanilla, it's a really fresh dessert.

That's the first flan I have ever made, and I really think it was perfect... not too heavy, 

not too much flour, great colour and shape... this recipe convinced me !

I've looked in many books and magazines, finally it's Sébastien Gaudard's rcipe that I've chosen, 

But I followed others advices and tips (Françoise Bernard's) and I've added vanilla.

The book it comes from : "Le meilleur des desserts"/"The best of desserts" lacks of details...

Honestly, if you follow it word by word, you won't succeed....

Well, I already knew the tricks so I haven't had any problems, here is the detail recipe :)

Enjoy that delicious flan !

  Preparation   There is a few tricks but I explain everything carefully in the recipe

  Tasting    Amazingly good, at least as good as in the french pastry shops !

  To conclude    I'm not looking further for a flan recipe right now, I'm happy with this one :)

For a 9inch mold

For 8 people

   Il vous faut :   

1 cookie dough, vanilla flavoured

3 cups + 3tbsp of milk (75cL)

4 eggs

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

3,5tbsp of Maïzena (2.1oz)

- cornstarch -

1 vanilla bean, grated

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

Turn the oven on at 320°F

Making the dough

Follow the recipe of pâte brisée

Add in 1 tsp of vanilla extract with the water

Place some parchement paper in your pie-mold so you can unmold it easily afterwards.

Flatten you dough (2mm) place it in your mold, pressing gently on the edges.

Use a rolling pin to remove the excess

- roll toward the exterior of the mold -

Create an alluminium circle so the dough won't go down. 

Do that only if the edges are vertical like mines.

Put in the oven 15 minutes

Set aside at room temperature.

Put the oven on at 375°F

Prepare the vanilla bean

Open he bean in half, remove the seeds and set them aside for another recipe.

Doing the pastry cream

Bring the milk to a boil with 1tbsp from the sugar in a saucepan

- putting sugar avoids milk burning/sticking on the sides -

In the meanwhile, whisk the eggs with what's left of sugar. Stirr in the maizena until homogeneous.

- that's quick -

When the milk simmers, put in the vanilla bean and pour the half of it on the previous batter, whisking !

Whisk for 15seconds and put it all back in the saucepan at medium heat, whisk well.

Leave it 2 to 3 more minutes, whisking continuously especially in the corners of the sauce pan !

It will thicken quickly. Remove from the stove and pour in a bowl. 

You have made a french pastry cream :)

Remove the vanilla beam, and beat with an electric beater 1 minute at low speed.

Pour the cream in the mold, flatten the top.

Put in the oven 45 to 50 minutes in the middle of the oven until real golden on the top.

 

- it's alive ! -

- After cooling down, it flattens and creates a thin layer of dough :) -

Let it cool down at room temperature, 

then refrigerate at least 3 hours

Serve cold !

Crème pâtissière - French pastry cream

As I announced, here comes the recipe of the second famous cream !

The creme patissiere is considered "cooked", compared to the creme anglaise, it's thicker, creamier.

You can spread it on tarts... it kind of has the same consistency as mayonnaise.

It's also useful in recipe like the gâteau basque, the frangipane, or the chocolate puff (éclair au chocolat) etc. It can be vanilla, lemon, chocolate, coffee.... flavoured 

I will give you the classic vanilla recipe that you can use for a fruit tart for example !

For a big pie, multiply it so you will use 5 or 6 egg yolks. (Twice more than what I've written)

   You will need :   

For 3 egg yolks,

8.5 fl oz. of milk (25cL)

2 tbsp. of cooking starch

3tbsp of sugar

1/2 vanilla pod

Put you milk to boil in a wet casserole with the grated vanilla pod

Work in a bowl the sugar with the eggyolks until white and foamy

Then add the starch in it and mix it well

Verse the boiling milk in that bowl

- after removing the vanilla pod -

Mix a bit and put verything back in the casserole,

let it cook while mixing whith a whisk,

let it 2 minutes while boiling,

medium temperature once it boils

- still mixing it with your whisk -

Never stop mixing 

- Be careful it's not cooking on the inner surface, grate everywhere -

Let it get cooler in a bowl, covered with a plastic film 

or with powdered sugar to avoid a crust

You can spread it on your tart (pre-cooked, shortcrust or cookie dough)

You can keep it 3 to 4 days in the fridge

- on the picture above, it's a vanilla shortcrust dough -

- don't put too much cream ;) -

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Suggestions

For a chocolate cream, you can add 4oz of chocolate to melt in the milk

For a coffee one, add 1tsp of coffee extract in the milk.

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Classic madeleine with no baking powder

Other flavour : vanilla and apricot >here<

A real treat... I often use madeleines in my drawings, their unusual shape give them such a personality, they are also really cute, really tasty, soft, with a hint of lemon, slightly crusty on the edge but buttery inside... should I say I love them ?
The secret of the madeleine is the resting of the dough, otherwise it won't rise up
It doesn't need baking powder !

- There was two recipe in the cookbook, I chose the left one, the right one would'nt be as good -

For around 16 regular-sized madeleines : 

2 big eggs

 0.6 cup of white sugar (5.3oz / 150gr)

1/2 cup of melted butter (4.4 oz / 125gr)

1.1 cup of flour (5.3 oz / 150 gr)

The shredded zest of a yellow lemon

- baking powder is not needed, if you put 1tsp, it will be lighter, that's all and the bump won't be as cute -

Turn on the oven at 430°F

Mix the eggs and sugar to obtain a white, foamy, soft cream,

 - you have to mix it at least 4 minutes -

Add slowly the flour by doing small circular movements with a wooden spoon,

- + baking powder if there is -

Add the melted butter, keep the dough light, vertical movements instead of horizontal ones

- still warm -

Add the lemon zest and mix again carefully

Do not mix it too much, once it's smooth, stop touching it, 

otherwise the madeleines will harden and won't rise that well

Let the dough rest a bit 

- not in the fridge, 25/30 minutes or so -

Put the dough in buttered madeleine pans 

- if they are not silicones -

Don't fill them completely 

 Leave it 7 minutes, then turn down the oven at 300°F and let it bake 3 to 4 more minutes

 If they are golden with a big hump, it's perfect, 

if they are too white, leave it one more minute
Depending if you have a metallic mold or a silicone one, you have to adapt the cooking time

- Yes you will feel the need to check how they are doing in there ! -

And they rised up well :D !

- mini-madeleines in silicon mold -

Let me know if you try :) You can change the lemon flavor with orange, vanilla, chocolate, add spices... I'll come to that in another post, after all the basics will be posted :)