Salted Honey Custard Tart with Lucini Olive Oil

I’d love to know where you stand.See I was talking to a friend recently about food assignments for holiday dinners (eh hem, like Christmas coming up) and she said that in her family, the person who gets assigned dessert is usually the person who can’t cook - “because it’s just so easy for them to pick up dessert from a bakery or something.”I was like *gasp!* dessert is THE most important part of the meal! That assignment is NOT to be squandered! ESPECIALLY on the person that can’t cook!She laughed.So are you like me? Planning out the entire meal based on dessert? Looking at the dessert section of a cookbook first? Or when going to a nice restaurant, wanting to order dessert first? (Like really, I want to order a sampler platter of dessert before eating a proper meal. Tell me I'm not alone. haha)Hopefully, since you’re here (hello dessert blog! lol!) and we’re friends and you totally agree with me on the dessert thing.So, this tart. It's all kinds of magical. It's salty, sweet, creamy and when drizzled with Lucini Olive Oil it's the most incredible, unexpected delicious combination you've had in a while.I promise.It may look fancy - but this tart is actually pretty easy to make - as the crust can be baked days ahead of time and the custard, once cooled and poured into the crust, doesn’t need to be baked again.I’m gonna go now, and just let you make this. Cause’ I know where you stand. ;)More to come, and Happy Early Christmas my friends - I mean, does it get any more festive (or beautifully simple?!) than this tart? Amen. xoThis post was sponsored by Lucini Olive Oil. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Sweetish Co. (Remember we only align with brands we believe in and absolutely LOVE.) 

salted honey custard tart with lucini olive oil

Okay, I know it might seem a little different to just drizzle olive oil over a tart (or maybe over dessert in general), but I am telling you, Lucini olive oil gives a peppery almond flavor that’s fresh and perfect and it is DIVINE with the sweetness of the salted honey custard. Really, you’ve never had anything so unexpectedly good. Don’t leave it out. I can’t speak for other olive oils here having the same magical effect, so, I highly recommend Lucini.

Sugared raspberries and rosemary are not completely necessary - but they do compliment the custard, cream, salted almond crust and olive oil really nicely. (I won't ever steer you wrong okay?) 

for the custard:

• 1 ½ cups / 355ml whole milk
• 5 tablespoons / 40g cornstarch
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod saved
• scant ½ cup / 160g honey ((chose a really good high-quality honey here, see notes))
• ½ teaspoon sea salt ((NOT kosher salt OR table salt please))

for the crust:

• 1 ½ cups / 145g almond meal
• ¼ cup / 25g whole oats
• ¼ cup / 31g unbleached all purpose flour
• ¼ cup / 55g light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Lucini Olive Oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt ((or ½ teaspoon sea salt))

for the whipped cream:

• 2 cups / 473ml cream
• 2-3 tablespoons sugar ((more or less depending on how sweet you’d like it))
• 1 teaspoon vanilla ((optional))

for the top:

• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• a few sprigs fresh rosemary
• superfine sugar

Tips for making the custard:

1. Let’s talk about the custard for sec. This stuff is tricky, I’m not gonna lie. It’s so easy it’s hard. Here’s some tips that will hopefully help you succeed on the first try:

2. Make sure you heat the milk to almost scalding before adding it to your egg + cornstarch mixture. This is super important. Don’t shoot for warm milk here, it’s gotta be hot! (I’ve made this mistake a few times when making pudding and custard, don’t do it!) What’s scalding milk? Scalding milk is the temperature right before it’s about to boil. Do your best to not let the milk boil. It should just have a low simmer and be barely bubbly around the edges of your pot. It is easy to burn milk too - so make sure you don’t bring the milk to a rolling boil.

3. I’ve found that if I whisk the custard *almost* constantly after the eggs + cornstarch + honey go into it prevents the bottom from burning / sticking / curdling. BUT after you feel the mixture start to thicken a little bit, pause for a few seconds and wait for the mixture to “burp” or bubble up just once slightly. If it burps, it’s ready!

4. Remove the custard from the heat as soon as it burps.

5. I find that putting the cooked custard immediately over an ice bath prevents it from curdling or over cooking. So I do this every time I make custard or pudding.

6. Have an ice bath ready with a mesh sieve over it before you start to make the custard.

7. Ice bath = big bowl filled with ice + little water with the smaller bowl inside of it. Put the mesh sieve over this empty smaller bowl.

   Okay! Good luck! Hopefully those tips help. xo 

for the custard

1. (Please read my tips for making the custard before attempting to make the custard. :)

2. Mix eggs and egg yolk with cornstarch in a medium-ish bowl until combined and no lumps remain. This might seem impossible at first, but just keep whisking. It will all combine together I promise.

3. Heat milk, vanilla bean and salt together until barely scalding. (This takes a few minutes). Take out the vanilla bean pod. Turn off the heat once milk is super hot. Then slowly whisk ⅓ of the hot milk into the egg + cornstarch mixture. Whisk in another ⅓ of a cup.

4. Turn the heat on the milk again to medium.

5. Then quickly whisk egg mixture back into the hot milk.

6. Add honey.

7. Heat mixture and whisk often until it starts to thicken. You want the custard to “burp” or bubble just once - DO NOT bring it to a boil or look for bubbles. This stuff curdles quickly.

8. Once custard has “burped” or “bubbled up” once, immediately remove from heat and pour into a fine mesh sieve over a medium sized glass bowl over ice.

9. Push custard through with a spatula, until all of the custard has gone through the sieve.

10. Immediately put plastic wrap over the top of the custard to ensure it doesn’t form a skin.

11. Place in the fridge to cool overnight. 

for the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F / 180° C.

2. Butter and line 9-10" tart pan (preferable with a movable bottom) with parchment paper. Be sure to butter all the nooks and crannies. 

3. Place all ingredients in a food processor with blade attachment and pulse until blended together and ingredients turn into a fine crumb. Mixture should kinda stick together with you squeeze it in your hand. If you find that it’s too wet, or too dry, add a little almond meal or a little melted butter / splash of olive oil to balance the consistency. My measurements should work exactly - but if you live in a dry place / more humid place you may need to adjust. This crust really is very forgiving so don’t stress to much.

4. Press into a 9-10” tart pan until it fills the entire pan and goes up the sides.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until crust turns a light golden brown.

6. Cool completely before filling with custard. 

for the whipped cream:

1. In a standing mixer with the whisk attachment beat together cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Take care not to over whip the cream. Plop whipped cream over tart. 

to decorate:

1. I covered some rosemary sprigs and fresh raspberries in superfine sugar (literally just dunked them in the sugar, I didn’t need to get them wet or anything) and then placed them on top of the whipped cream. It was divine and Christmasy and I highly recommend it. 

to serve:

1. Drizzle Lucini Olive Oil all over the tart right before serving. Drizzle a little more on each slice, topped with raspberries and some sprigs of sugar-crusted rosemary.

bakers note: The filling and crust can be made about 3-4 days ahead of time, but store them separately. Pour the custard, and whipped cream into the tart shell a few hours before serving. If you put the filling in the custard a few days ahead, it turns the crust soggy.

more baker’s notes: Be choosey with the honey you use here because the flavor of it contributes so much to the overall flavor of the tart. Use a high quality honey you absolutely love and cannot get enough of (aka want to eat with a spoon). Also, measure your honey in a dry measuring cup if you’re not going to weigh it. I found that measuring your honey in a liquid measuring cup yields too much honey and makes the custard a little too sweet. You want to BARELY fill that ½ dry cup measurer with honey. “Scant” means it doesn’t go all the way to the top.