My friend Dorothy and I have developed a bit of a summertime tradition where she brings over her brother Joe and his family for dessert while they are in town visiting from London. I always look forward to this event -- it's a lot of fun to host Dorothy's and Joe's families together, and everyone knows that children with British accents are utterly charming.
One of the items I made for their visit this year is the Butterscotch Pudding Tarts from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. Somehow I have not tried this recipe before now even though I love making tarts and I have owned this cookbook since 2008. But better late than never!
The tarts have an oat wheat pie crust that you make by mixing rolled oats, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, dark brown sugar, salt, cold butter, and milk in the food processor. The recipe is written to yield eight 4-inch tarts, and you're supposed to chill the crust dough, divide the dough into eight pieces, and then chill each piece again briefly before rolling out the individual crusts. I decided to just divide the dough into eight pieces immediately after making it, because it seemed like it would be easier. I weighed out the pieces to make sure they were equal, formed each piece into a disc, wrapped them in plastic, and put them in the fridge to chill.
Rolling out the dough and getting the crusts into the tart pans wasn't difficult, and I put the dough-lined pans in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up the crusts before baking. Then I docked the dough with a fork and baked the crusts until they were golden brown. The recipe says this should take 12-15 minutes, but my crusts were still undercooked at 15 minutes, and I ended up leaving them in the oven for a total of 35 minutes.
The first step in making the pudding is to make caramel; you cook water and sugar until the mixture turns dark amber, and then add cream. To make the pudding base, you cook dark brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, milk, and a vanilla bean (both the pod and the scraped seeds) until the mixture comes to a boil. Then you add in the caramel, add tempered egg yolks, and boil the mixture until it becomes very thick. You're supposed to finish off the pudding with a little butter and some whiskey -- but I skipped the whiskey. You cool the pudding slightly, remove the vanilla bean, and then pour the pudding into the cooled tart shells.
My pudding was thick enough that I had to use an offset spatula to spread it to the edges of the crusts. As suggested in the recipe, I garnished the tarts with a crushed Butterfinger candy bar. The pudding was still warm when I filled the crusts and sprinkled on the candy bar, and the Butterfinger melted a little -- if you look closely at the photo above, you can see small puddles of bright orange liquid that seeped out from the flaky peanut butter filling of the bar. I chilled the tarts for a few hours before serving.
Aside from the strange-looking Butterfinger effluent on top of the tart, I thought the tarts looked great. The crusts released easily from the pans, and the pudding was firm enough that it held its shape perfectly after the tarts were sliced. I really loved the hearty oat crust, which was nice and crisp. The pudding had a beautiful butterscotch flavor, although I thought the flavor was somewhat subdued in the chilled tart compared to when I had tasted the warm pudding right after I made it. Regardless, it's leaps and bounds above the butterscotch pudding I remember from my childhood -- which was the kind that started out as a packet of Jell-O instant pudding mix.
This would be a terrific dessert even without the crust -- the pudding alone would be a satisfying treat, especially with some Butterfinger garnish. I'm happy with the way these tarts turned out, and they were enjoyed equally by adults and children alike!
Recipe: "Butterscotch Pudding Tarts" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
One of the items I made for their visit this year is the Butterscotch Pudding Tarts from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. Somehow I have not tried this recipe before now even though I love making tarts and I have owned this cookbook since 2008. But better late than never!
The tarts have an oat wheat pie crust that you make by mixing rolled oats, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, dark brown sugar, salt, cold butter, and milk in the food processor. The recipe is written to yield eight 4-inch tarts, and you're supposed to chill the crust dough, divide the dough into eight pieces, and then chill each piece again briefly before rolling out the individual crusts. I decided to just divide the dough into eight pieces immediately after making it, because it seemed like it would be easier. I weighed out the pieces to make sure they were equal, formed each piece into a disc, wrapped them in plastic, and put them in the fridge to chill.
Rolling out the dough and getting the crusts into the tart pans wasn't difficult, and I put the dough-lined pans in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up the crusts before baking. Then I docked the dough with a fork and baked the crusts until they were golden brown. The recipe says this should take 12-15 minutes, but my crusts were still undercooked at 15 minutes, and I ended up leaving them in the oven for a total of 35 minutes.
My pudding was thick enough that I had to use an offset spatula to spread it to the edges of the crusts. As suggested in the recipe, I garnished the tarts with a crushed Butterfinger candy bar. The pudding was still warm when I filled the crusts and sprinkled on the candy bar, and the Butterfinger melted a little -- if you look closely at the photo above, you can see small puddles of bright orange liquid that seeped out from the flaky peanut butter filling of the bar. I chilled the tarts for a few hours before serving.
Aside from the strange-looking Butterfinger effluent on top of the tart, I thought the tarts looked great. The crusts released easily from the pans, and the pudding was firm enough that it held its shape perfectly after the tarts were sliced. I really loved the hearty oat crust, which was nice and crisp. The pudding had a beautiful butterscotch flavor, although I thought the flavor was somewhat subdued in the chilled tart compared to when I had tasted the warm pudding right after I made it. Regardless, it's leaps and bounds above the butterscotch pudding I remember from my childhood -- which was the kind that started out as a packet of Jell-O instant pudding mix.
This would be a terrific dessert even without the crust -- the pudding alone would be a satisfying treat, especially with some Butterfinger garnish. I'm happy with the way these tarts turned out, and they were enjoyed equally by adults and children alike!
Recipe: "Butterscotch Pudding Tarts" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
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