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Egg Custard Tarts

A pastry shell filled with a lightly beaten egg and milk custard, baked until set.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Egg Custard Tarts

Oven325°F
Timeabout 35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pastry

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease the tart pans.

  2. Cut the lard.

  3. Sift the flour into a large bowl using a sifter.

  4. Work the lard and butter into the flour with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

  5. Continue kneading, adding the hot water.

  6. Roll the dough into a large ball, cover with wax paper, and refrigerate while preparing the custard filling.

Make the custard filling

  1. Lightly beat the eggs, taking care not to produce any air bubbles.

  2. Stir in the milk and the sugar.

  3. Add the yellow food coloring if using.

Shape and bake

  1. On a large, lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is very thin (about 1/8 inch or 3 to 4 mm thick).

  2. Cut the dough in half before rolling out if needed.

  3. Use a pastry cutter to cut out 18 circles that are 3 inches in diameter.

  4. Fit the circles into the tart shells.

  5. Pour the filling into the shells.

  6. Bake until the custard is cooked and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (about 35 minutes).

  7. Cool.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

948Calories
27 gProtein
39 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Pastrynot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All purpose flour
Forms the structure of the pastry dough.
Lard
Makes the pastry short and tender by coating flour particles with fat.
Butter
Adds flavor and helps the pastry brown while keeping it flaky.
Eggs
Set the custard, giving it its firm, sliceable body.
Whole milk
Provides the liquid and richness that form the custard with the eggs.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and adds body to the filling.

The step that matters

Beating the eggs gently. Beating eggs hard whips in air bubbles, which can leave holes or a pocked surface in the set custard. Gentle stirring keeps the filling smooth and even.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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