Crème Brûlée Tart

This gorgeous Crème Brûlée Tart is everything you love about the classic French dessert but encased in a buttery tart crust. Silky smooth egg custard topped with a thin and crispy layer of toffee. This dessert is creamy and delicious and will be ready to slice up in no time! Hear that crack as you slice into the toffee? Satisfying right?

Nick’s favorite thing…

This creamy tart is so yum! I love how delicate and perfectly set the filling is. And those little vanilla bean specs are so cute. But above all I love how the toffee is so thin and crispy. The flavor is so good and contrast so well to the creamy and soft filling!

What does Crème Brûlée Tart taste like?

The sweet tart shell is like shortcrust pastry. Perfectly delicate but not crumbly. The filling is speckled with thousands of vanilla beans and make the filling so indulgent. The filling is soft and perfectly set. The toffee on top is thin, caramelised toffee and gives you that satisfying crispy crackle when slicing into it!

What are the ingredients I need for Crème Brûlée Tart?

All-purpose flour – also known as plain flour.

Powdered sugar – also known as icing sugar.

Vanilla Extract – Always use good quality vanilla extract when baking, it makes a huge difference. I have a great recipe here for it if you’d like to try your own!

Unsalted butter – make sure it’s cold and cube it to give it a head start.

Eggs – I used large eggs.

Milk – I used cows milk.

Heavy cream – this is the type of cream you use for whipping.

Brown sugar – light or dark is fine.

Vanilla bean paste – a vanilla bean that’s been scraped and added to the milk would work as well.

Caster sugar – also known as superfine sugar.

Let’s go through each step.

Crust

1. Add the flour, vanilla extract and powdered sugar to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine.
2. Next, add the butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces.

3. Add the egg yolks and blitz until small clumps of dough form.
4. Turn the crumbly mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading).

5. Form a rough disc shape and then wrap in plastic. Chill for 60 minutes in the fridge.
6. Preheat your oven to 180°C / 355°F. Dust your workbench with flour

7. Use a rolling pin to roll out to 14 inches wide.
8. Carefully roll over the rolling pin and then transfer

9. Unroll over a 9-inch tart tin with removable bottom.
10. Carefully lift the dough over the tart to allow it to naturally fall into the corns of the tart. You don’t want to stretch it or it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven.

11. Use the rolling pin to cut away the excess dough. Discard excess dough.
12. Use a fork to prick holes into the bottom of the tart shell to prevent it from bubbling up as it bakes.

13. Place the pie tin on a baking tray. Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin.
14. Fill with baking beads. I used dried chickpeas. Bake for 15 minutes.

15. Then take it out of the oven, carefully lift out the beads using the baking paper and bake on 150°C / 300°F for a further 10 minutes.
16. Once baked, allow to cool completely. Leave the oven on for the second baking with the filling.

Custard Filling

1. Add the milk and cream to a heatproof jug or bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. To a large mixing bowl, add the egg yolks, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla bean paste and whisk.

3. Slowly add the warm milk mixture and whisk until well combined.
4. Pour into the tart shell through a sieve and bake for 30-35 minutes. It will still be slightly jiggly in the center. Allow to cool completely.

5. To finish, sprinkle the caster sugar on top.
6. Use a kitchen torch to torch the sugar and turn it into toffee. Serve immediately.

Gave this a go? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok for more great recipes!

My Top Tips!

• You can make this dough three days ahead of time if wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
• When torching the sugar to turn it to toffee, you want to do it right before serving. Go slow and be patient. Make sure you don’t hold it too close to the sugar or you will just end up burning it.

Other Recipes You Might Like!

• No-Fuss Apple Tart
• Strawberry And Pretzel Tart
• Passionfruit Meringue Tart
• Lemon Tart
• Chocolate Coconut And Lime Tart

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @thescranline on Facebook and Instagram!