Need a quick and easy dessert for a party? These Mini Raspberry Custard Tarts are so simple and always get rave reviews!
I know you are going to love these delicious mini raspberry tarts. They almost take less time to make than it does to eat them! My kids were so impatient while I finished these, they basically stalked me until I finally decided which ones weren’t pretty enough to photograph.
I started by making the cream for the tiny mini desserts. But you have to know, that when one makes a custard it can be a whisky matter… ha! Get ready to whisk your arm off.
Making these (aside from the custard) is a really great beginners recipe or cooking with the kids idea. Whisking the custard is a bit attention heavy and gets pretty hot so make it ahead of time and then let the kids get in and help you do all the assembly!
I used caster sugar which a special kind of baking sugar. Caster sugar is a fine grain sugar that dissolves almost instantly. Since caster sugar is so fine and light it is ideal for making custards, whipped desserts, meringues, and soufflé.
Fun fact of the day... I wanted to highlight one area of the recipe: scalding the milk for the custard. This process used to be done for safety purposes in many old recipes, which isn’t really necessary anymore since we have modern pasteurization. So in many older recipes it’s no longer really necessary.
But in custard making (and some bread recipes) scalding the milk actually does have a purpose. In this case we heat the milk to kick start the cooking process and set the eggs into a custard. It also helps the sugar dissolve and flavors to blend.
But in bread making, scalding the milk causes some of the whey proteins to deactivate which allows the gluten in the bread to properly form and the bread to rise properly. This makes breads lighter and sponge cakes springier! Pretty cool.
Once we get the custard cooked and the tarts baked the decorating fun starts! You can drizzle these with melted chocolate, top them with powdered sugar, do cute little frosting decorations… the sky is really the limit here.
I love the raspberries being cooked in the tarts but for presentation putting a fresh berry right over the top is so classy and really gives you that amazing gush of flavor when you bite into them.
The kids are begging for these for Valentine’s Day parties so it looks like we will be making them again soon.
2 boxes frozen tartlet shells (16 in box)
1 cup fresh raspberries
Filling:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
½ teaspoon of nutmeg
8 egg yolks
½ cup of caster sugar or white sugar
Optional toppings: melted chocolate, powdered sugar, raspberries, mint leaves
In a large bowl add the sugar to your egg yolks and whisk really well until ait is fully combined and the yolks start to lighten a bit.
Add the heavy cream, milk, lemon zest, nutmeg to a medium saucepan. Whisk on high until milk is just before a full boil (scalding the milk) being careful to not fully boil and keeping the milk moving in order to keep from burning. Then turn the heat off for 5 minutes.
Add a ½ cup of the warm milk to the egg mixture slowly while whisking vigorously THE ENTIRE TIME until fully mixed. Add another ½ cup to the egg mixture. This is crucial. If you do not whisk continually and add slowly you will scramble the eggs.
Now that the egg mixture is slightly warmer from the two additions of milk you can safely add the egg mixture back into the milk in the pan. Turn the heat on low and cook gently. When you cease to smell eggs then the mixture is done and ready to be spooned into the tart shells. Add fresh raspberries to each tart. Place in the oven 375 for 10-15 minutes until custard is set.
Once cooled top with chocolate, powdered sugar, fresh berries and mint leaves (or whatever your heart desires!).
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