Oh goodness, I’m so excited to share two very delicious recipes from my gorgeous friend Mia Loves Pretty! Mia has whipped up two of the most delicious Creme Patissiere Flakey Tarts and has very generously allowed me to share them with you - the pear and almond tart is an ode to winter and the strawberry tart to summer, how absolutely perfect is that! Either one of these wonderfully delicious tarts by Mia would be beyond perfect for a winters afternoon treat along side a warm cup of tea - which one is your favourite? x
Click read more for the recipe.

Creme Patissiere Flakey Tart by Mia Loves Pretty

Base

1 good quality block puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten (to be used as egg wash)

Filling - Creme patissiere

200 ml milk
1 vanilla bean pod, halved with seeds scraped out - or half tsp of vanilla paste
3 egg yolks
60g sugar
25g cornflour
Small knob of butter
Place milk and vanilla bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan, place on stove on a medium heat to reach nearly boiling point. Once reached to that point, take off the stove and remove the vanilla bean pod. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until pale yellow and silky (I use a standing mixer for ease).
While whisking, gently pour in a small amount of your hot vanilla infused milk, whisk thoroughly. Then continue to whisk in the remaining milk into the whisked egg mixture, in a thin stream, until fully incorporated.
Pour the mixture back into the small saucepan and place on medium heat on the stove. Whisk the mixture until it starts to slightly thicken, take off the stove and continue whisking until smooth. Place in a small bowl to cool. (If your mixture becomes too thick or starts getting lumpy, don’t worry! Just strain it through a sieve!)
Rub the top of your creme patissiere mixture with a knob of butter or place a piece of glad-wrap (saran wrap!) right against the creme to ensure that it doesn’t form a skin whilst cooling.

Topping

Choose whatever topping you like (stewed rhubarb, banana and chocolate chips, anything!)! For this recipe, I chose to do two tarts and had one with a Corella Pear, and the other a punnet of strawberries, an ode to winter and summer!
Corella pear thinly sliced at degree 2 (I used a mandolin)
Strawberries, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons honey, slightly warmed
Toasted flaked almonds
Icing sugar (optional)
Preheat oven 220°C, thaw out your block of puff pastry and make the creme patissiere.
As I was doing two tarts, I cut this block in half and rolled them out to my desired shapes, ensuring the pastry was evenly rolled out, at around 1.5-2cm thick. For the Pear tart, I rolled out the pastry to be a rough oblong shape. For the Strawberry tart, I rolled this out to be a 15cmX15cm square. (You can roll the pastry out to whatever shape you like, just make sure its mostly symmetrical and consistent thickness. You can do one giant tart, or even have three small ones, the variation is up to you!)
Spread out your desired amount of cooled creme patissiere on your rolled out pastry with a small palette knife, ensuring an approx. 1cm perimeter of pastry left clean of creme patissiere, so you get a flakey risen border
If you are using winter fruit as your topping, you can place this fruit on your creme patissiere. For my pears. If you’re using soft summery fruit, leave this out.
Brush the pastry edge with egg wash
Place both prepared pastries on a prepared baking tray, then into the oven at 220°C for 20-25mins (or until fully flakey and golden brown (on the underside of the pastry base too). Keep an eye on your tart baking in the oven.
Assemble the strawberry slices on the creme patissiere of your naked tart. The naked tart will have puffed up in the oven, but once you take it out of the oven, the creme patissiere part will sink.
Once the tarts are slightly cooled. Brush the tart with warmed honey as a glaze (this is optional). Top with toasted flaked almonds and icing sugar to decorate. Devour and eat immediately!