Cookwithus#8- Crème brûlée Milktart

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Dear eSTEEMed humans of the interwebs, happy friday!

First things first, thank you so much to @chefsteve , @pandamama and @offoodandart from the @cookwithus team for hosting this awesome weekly competition. If any of you foodies are stuck for inspiration, this is the place to go: A weekly theme to get the creative juices flowing and a community of amazing cooks offering support and helpful tips. I've said it before, it's the friendliest competition on earth!

Secondly, thanks so much for taking my suggestion for a recipe from your home country! What an honour!

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Now, to business: I've had the crisp crackle of brûlée topping the silkiest custard locked and loaded for this week's indulgence theme, but i can't pass up the opportunity to showcase a South African recipe!
So I figured, since my first name is Cheré, I can keep the brûlée to celebrate my French heritage and combine it with my ultimate South African indulgence, but more on that later...

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First, a little backstory.

South Africa has had a rocky history, but we've grown into a melting pot of cultures and languages (11 official languages, and it still doesn't nearly represent all the cultures who call Mzanzi home!) As a result, our 'cuisine' has countless different origins and the mish-mash of dishes as easily grace road-side stalls as high-end restaurants. From sticky, gelatinous 'Walkie Talkies' (chicken heads and feet) that really walk the talk, to warm aromatic Bunny Chows stuffed with real Durban Curry (our resident Durbanite @lizelle can back me up here) , we have something to suit every palate and level of adventure.

The point is, We're blessed to have an array of wonderful, world-class ingredients at our disposal, and while we can easily whip up filet mignon, drizzle lemon and tabasco over plump wild oysters harvested from our waters or even have a go at making sushi, what makes South African cuisine amazing is that we can extract incredible flavour from the cheapest ingredients, and proudly call them our own.

While I can harp on about your modest-in-price but rich-in-flavour cuisine for ages, I'd rather nibble on a chunk of moist Biltong and tell you about this dish.

While cookies and ice-cream are my go to snacks, my ultimate indulgence and feel-good food has always been custard. Not to brag, but we have this canary yellow stuff in a box called Ultramel and it rivals the work of any French pâtissier.

I always refer to its incredible silkiness when making custards of my own, and while mine isn't bright yellow- I think the texture is as close as it gets.

It also takes only minutes to whip up without the finickiness of a Bain-Marie or temperamental oven temperatures.
Incidentally, it's also the base I use for a South African favourite: Milk Tart.

Traditionally, the tart is a simple custard filling in a crisp tart shell, liberally sprinkled with ground cinnamon.
It uses humble ingredients found in everyone's pantry, and has been a staple for meets with grannies or visits from the pastor for generations.

Being a custard-based tart, I figured I could combine this South African classic with the pièce de résistance of a crème brûlée: The brilliantly bitter, brittle brûlée ( Try saying that 3 times fast!)

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And folks, it worked!

Without further ado, the recipe:

##Ingredients:

Makes 1 large or 6 individual Brûlée MilkTarts

###Biscuit Base:

( While I'd usually make a shortbread crust, the texture competes with the Brûlée, so I opted for the crumblier, and much less labour intensive, crushed biscuit crust. )

• 300 grams biscuits of choice. (Ginger is amazing for winter, but I used coconut to hold on to the last days of summer.)
• 100 grams Salted Butter, melted

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Method:

1. Pulse biscuits or crush in a Ziplock baggie with a rolling pin.
2. Stir in melted butter and press gently into greased spring form cake pan/or pans
3. Place in fridge to set while making custard

Custard Filling.

• 700ml/ 3 Cups Full-Cream Milk
• 200 ml/1 Cup Whipping Cream
• 1 Tbsp Salted Butter
• 2 Whole Eggs and 1 yolk
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 3 Tbsp Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract (or 2 Tsp Moirs Vanilla Essence for authenticity- South Africans only got the real stuff a few years ago)

###Toppings:

• 150 Grams Castor Sugar
• 6 Tsps Ground Cinnamon

####Method:

1. Whisk eggs, sugar, corn starch and flour until frothy
2. Heat milk and cream in a heavy-based pot until just simmering
3. Add milk mixture into the egg mix a ladle at a time and whisk thoroughly to temper the eggs and keep them from scrambling.
4. Once all the milk is added to the egg mixture, return to the pot and stir over low heat until thickened to the texture of soft-whipped cream.
5. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla until smooth and glossy.
6. Pour onto biscuit base (or bases) and tap the cake pans gently to even out the custard.
7. Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool at room temperature before placing in the fridge to set. (This takes about an hour, but can be left overnight.) * This is the one time you want a skin to form, it helps protect the custard from scrambling under the blowtorch, so try not to let the clingfilm touch the custard.
8. Remove from spring form pans and sprinkle with castor sugar evenly, making sure no custard is peeking out.
9. Blowtorch sugar in small circles until bubbly and brown, or heat oven broiler to hottest setting before placing tart/s on the highest shelf to broil. Keep a close eye if using this method, it burns more quickly than you think!
10. Finally, once sugar topping is cooled, sprinkle with cinnamon and, if so moved, decorate with grapes- an homage to the beautiful wine country I call home, and fresh plump figs- because they're delicious.

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Now crack that sugar topping and serve with strong black coffee and good company.