My husband's mum gave me her old baking tins years ago - and whatever I bake in them tastes better, I am convinced. I have used them hundreds of times for hundreds of things and today they have turned out fifty lime custard tarts for a lovely wedding coming up. You'll have eaten something similar, no doubt - those delicious Portuguese 'pasteis de nata' that make you want to have another and another. Well, here I bring you what I call my failsafe cheat's version , the basis of which involves only 3 ingredients - good puff pastry, (shop bought) good custard (shop bought) and eggs (from a chicken). Some lime or lemon to add a bit of zing is optional, but I promise you that once they come out of the oven - and sink, which is what they will do and are supposed to do- these little instant mouthfuls of deliciousness will bring a smile to anybody's face!
Just as a wee aside, beautiful Michelle of Lamb Loves Photography gave me her mother's recipe for a pastryless version of these where you bake the custard filling in the tin holes and they rise up just like the pastry encased ones - there's lots of demerara sugar involved in them, I seem to remember and I'll add the recipe here as an alternative when I find it.
Recipe (makes about 24 depending on size of tin holes)
1 x ready rolled pack of Puff pastry
400 ml custard (Sainsbury's luxury custard is to die for!)
2 eggs
juice and zest of 1 lime - optional
Line the tin holes sections with rounds of puff pastry rolled out to about 1/4 inch ( you don't need to grease the bases - the flour used for rolling will be enough.
Mix all the rest of the ingredients together. Pour into the individual pastry cases and bake at 170 degrees (fan oven)/180 otherwise for 30 - 35 mins.
They'll rise in the oven and then deflate again when you take them out. Don't worry, this is normal.
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