Popcorn Crème Brûlée Tart
A classic crème brûlée tart, with a twist! Luscious, soft, melt in your mouth custard, with a crumbly buttery shortcrust pastry and of course, crackly caramelised sugar- an unbeatable combination! So comforting, so delicious and veryy satisfying- just what the doctor ordered :P
This is not your regular crème brûlée tart. We have a slight twist to it- the addition of popcorn!
Popcorn is a really subtle flavour, very hard to bring forward. So this tart is not overtly popcorn if that makes sense, but more so a nuanced flavour in the background that adds a little bit of character to our tart. I know you’re wondering, so how do we extract that beautiful popcorn flavour?
Here’s a little nerdie fact for you- fat carries flavour. This could be any fat usually- like butter, oil, cream. By simply combining your flavour ingredient with any type of fat, the flavour is much more intensified. Like adding vanilla to butter while you’re making a vanilla cake vs adding it at the end. Or chilli to oil to make chilli oil.
In saying that, some flavours are bold enough to simply be added with fat and they’ll shine. Like ginger. Add it with butter if you’re making ginger cookies and watch how flavourful the cookies will be. On the other hand, we have a few shy flavours like popcorn (or mint) that need a little extra TLC. So here we have infused our freshly popped corn into heavy cream & milk for 24 hours to really release all that popcorn-ey goodness.
From there, it’s pretty straight-forward. Make a custard, add to the baked tart and pop it in the oven.
With any custard based dessert, the key to getting them right is in cooking them just right. The custard should be set enough to hold it’s shape but soft enough to melt in your mouth. That’s the rule. To achieve that, we bake our tart at a low temp for relatively longer time. Deeper your tart, the longer you’d have to bake it for.
And there you go, you’ve just baked yourself and your family a luscious popcorn crème brûlée tart :D I hope this dessert makes it onto your festive table. It’s classic with a twist, very fun and very very delicious. Happy holidays and bon appetite! xx
Recipe
Serves: 8
Ingredients
For the shortcrust pastry:
100g unsalted butter, cubed and frozen
67g icing sugar
167g plain flour
20g almond meal
pinch of salt
33g eggs
1 egg yolks + 30ml heavy cream, for egg wash
For the popcorn infused cream:
70g freshly popped corn
2g sea salt
200g full fat milk
150g heavy cream
For the custard:
140g popcorn infused cream, weighed after straining (from above)
360g heavy cream
98g egg yolks
30g brown sugar, light or dark
25g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
pinch of salt
caster sugar, for brûlée
Method
For the shortcrust pastry:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, add the dry ingredients along with the frozen butter. Mix until all the flour is completely coated with butter, and the mixture resembles like wet sand.
With the mixer still running, once the dough starts to clump together, add in the egg and mix until the dough just comes together.
Transfer onto a work surface and use your hands to shape the dough into a disc. Cover with cling wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
The next day, line the tart: on a lightly floured surface, roll out the chilled pastry to 3-4mm thickness, ensuring the pastry is larger than the tart case. Brush off the excess flour and line the tart cases. Refrigerate for 30mins- 1 hour. I’m using a 9” fluted tart ring.
Using a sharp paring knife, trim off the excess pastry by holding the knife horizontal to the tart case edge and simultaneously rotating the tart case. Freeze the tart completely. * To watch a video on how to line a tart shell correctly, click here.
Preheat oven to 170°C.
Weigh the tart down with pie weights or beans and blind bake for 25-30 mins or until the tart is golden brown and baked completely.
Egg wash the tart and bake for 3 mins. Repeat one more time. Keep aside while you prepare the custard.
For the popcorn infusion:
Make 24 hours in advance: Place the popcorn in a medium bowl. Keep aside.
In a small pot, add the cream, milk and salt and bring to a simmer.
Remove from heat and add to the popcorn. Press the popcorn into the liquid. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
The next day, strain the mixture. Discard the popcorn and weigh 140g of the popcorn infused cream for the custard.
For the custard:
Drop the oven temperature to 150°C.
In a pot, add the cream, along with the popcorn infused cream. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds using the back of your knife. Add to the cream and place over medium heat. Heat to 65°C.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, add the egg yolks, two sugars and salt. Whisk to combine well.
Pour 1/3 the hot cream into the yolk mixture and whisk to combine. Add the remaining cream and whisk until the mixture is well combined.
Strain using a fine sieve. Pour the custard into the pre-baked tart shell. Use a blow torch to get rid of any air bubbles. Alternatively, you can also place a cling wrap on the surface of the custard and gently peel off to remove any air bubbles.
Slowly place the tart into the oven, careful not to spill any custard. Bake for 16-20 mins or until the custard has a wobble in the centre when shaken. I baked mine for exact 20 mins. **
Allow the tart to cool down completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for minimum 3 hours or preferably overnight.
To serve: use a sharp knife to cut the tart into 8 slices. Sprinkle each tart generously with caster sugar and use a blow torch to caramelise the sugar. Lighter the caramel- sweeter it’ll be. Don’t be afraid to go dark with the caramel- it adds more flavour. Bon appetite!
Notes:
*- You can line the tart ahead of time and store in the freeze for up to 2 weeks.
**- The baking time will differ, depending on the height of your tart ring. Shallower tart will bake much faster and vice versa.
If you enjoyed that and tried it at home, please tag me at @myyummyspatula on Instagram so that I can see all your bakes! For more BTS stories, updates and fun, you can follow long here:
