I'm so 'egg'cited

Egg Custard

It's back!

 The Great British Bake Off has made a very welcome return to our screens, and as I am sure you all are,

we are glued to our screens on Tuesday evening.

Miss B. is even allowed a late night pass (and on a school night too) to sit with us and enjoy watching this years amazing contestants bake their little hearts out.

Inspired by the egg custard in last weeks show, I decided I should give it a whirl.

The somewhat disastrous results for most of the GBBO bakers made me wonder just what was so difficult about the recipe.

I have to confess it wasn't all that bad, but in fairness I was standing with full instructions in front of me,

 in the safety of my own little kitchen,

and Paul and Mary were not present - more's the pity.

I follow original GBBO winner, Edd Kimber's blog - details to the right here, and by an amazing coincidence, he posted his own recipe for egg custard just last week.

What's not to like about the convenience of that?

It's a bit of an 'egg hungry' recipe, but the whites can be frozen until a later date, or like me, I whipped up an orange curd roulade to feed the 'hive'.

I have detailed the recipe below but you can also check out Edd's recipe here if you would like to. His blog is very good and he has included a video of himself making up the recipe too.

(A little bit too high tech for this little Busy Bee .)

 You will need :

 For the Pastry -

225g plain flour

150g unsalted butter

50g caster sugar

pinch of salt

1 large egg

For the custard filling -

350ml single cream

100ml whole milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 large egg yolks

100g caster sugar

1 nutmeg

1. Lightly grease a 9 inch loose bottom tart tin.

2. To make the pastry, I made use of my lovely Magimix food processor but you can make this by hand if you wish to.

Rub the butter and flour together until it resembles bread crumbs, add the sugar and salt and stir to combine.

Make a small well in the centre of the mix and add the egg.

Stir with a knife to bring the mixture together, and then knead by hand until you have a nice smooth mix.

Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for around 30 minutes to firm up.

3. Roll out the pastry to allow a couple of inches overhand around the tart tin,

I recently bought this fantastic rolling pin which is a monstrous 50cm long.

It is made from beechwood and feels a very substantial piece of kit when you are using it.

Gently lift the rolled out pastry into the tart tin and carefully press into the base.

Pop the tin back into the fridge for a further 30 minutes, to help the pastry keep it's shape whilst baking.

4. Pre heat the oven to 180c

5. Remove the tart from the fridge and line with parchment paper, filling it with baking beans.

Bake in the pre heated oven for approx. 20 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and carefully remove the parchment and baking beans.

Place the tart back in the oven for about 5 minutes to dry out the base.

Once the tart has baked, this is Edd's brilliant tip to help prevent the base going soggy once filled with the custard.

6. Take an extra egg yolk and using a pastry brush, coat the entire inside of the tart.

Place this back in the oven for 5 minutes to dry out.

7. Turn the oven down to 130c and make the custard.

Place the cream and milk into a heavy bottom saucepan and set over a medium heat .

Add the vanilla extract and bring the cream to a simmer.

8. Place the egg yolks into a bowl and whisk together.

9. Pour the hot cream over the yolks, whisking continuously.

Yes I'm kneeling on the floor to take this picture

10. Leaving the tart in the oven, pour in the custard and very carefully slide back in to bake.

The tart will be completely filled and it's very easy to spill everywhere when trying to lift from the kitchen bench back into the oven.

11. carefully grate the nutmeg over the top of the tart to suit your taste.

12. Bake for around 30-40 minutes or until set around the outside, but still with a little wobble in the middle.

It's all about the wobble.

Allow the tart to cool completely before trimming off the excess pastry and removing from the tin.

I hope you enjoy the rest of GBBO.

I wonder who will win?

Until next time, enjoy your day.