Vegan custard tarts (and Bite-Sized Thoughts turns 4)

Today is the 4-year anniversary of Bite-Sized Thoughts. Coincidentally, it is also the 9-month anniversary of our move from Perth to London. I think both deserve celebration, and vegan custard tarts are my celebratory item of choice.

Before getting to the tarts, though, forgive me if I reflect just a little on the last blogging year. The top 10 posts of 2014, as per Google Analytics statistics, are...

• Vegan lemon meringue pie
• Healthier sticky date pudding in a mug
• Raw zucchini noodles with a spicy peanut sauce
• Hazelnut praline chocolates, and chocolate spread (my 2014 blog anniversary post)
• Cherry ripe balls for Mother's Day
• Chocolate sweet potato ice cream
• Raw apple-vanilla or banana-cinnamon buckwheat porridge
• Raw bakewell tart bars
• In My Kitchen July 2014 (featuring my new UK kitchen) and November 2014 (featuring products from Borough Market)
• Wave Rock, Western Australia

Headers over time - from top to bottom:
2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (I've gotten wider with time)

The past year has been a busy one, and I made the decision to drop my posting frequency from 4 days per week to 3. I'm quite sure nobody minds. I am increasingly willing to take a pragmatic approach to blogging - I enjoy it, but there is no benefit in putting pressure on myself to post (or read blogs) if I am out of time. I catch up eventually, and taking the pressure off helps to keep the process enjoyable. 

I am also more willing to share mistakes as well as successes. These custard tarts are a case in point. The filling is delicious - a classic custard tart, reminiscent of ones I enjoyed in childhood from Australian bakeries. The pastry, though, suffered the consequences of poor advance planning. I needed 80g of non-dairy spread (margarine) but only had about 40g. I made up the difference with yoghurt, and it didn't really work.

I am sharing these anyway because (a) you can learn from me and make sure you have the correct dough quantities available and (b) the filling really was delicious and worked exactly as I'd hoped. I plan to repeat a batch with proper pastry in the future. I have listed the correct pastry ingredients below, and as it's a recipe I have used before, I am confident in it working if made as listed.

A final note - these are a vegan version of custard tarts, but not a whole foods version. Emma shared a recipe for the latter on Coconut and Berries earlier in the year. They are on my To Make list too, but I was craving the traditional filling for these ones!

Vegan custard tarts

An egg and dairy free version of the classic original

Makes 6 small tarts

Food processor recommended for processing the dough

Author: Bite-Sized Thoughts, adapted from a non-vegan recipe on Taste.com.au

Print recipe

Ingredients

For the pastry

145g (1 metric cup) plain flour

45g (1/4 metric cup) icing sugar

80g non-dairy margarine

1/2 tsp vanilla

For the filling

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 2 eggs (I used the Orgran brand)

3 tbsp custard powder

3/4 tsp vanilla

30g (1/8 metric cup) caster sugar

185ml (3/4 metric cup) unsweeted almond milk, or milk of choice

Nutmeg, for sprinkling

Method

If you have a food processor, use it to process all pastry ingredients into dough. The mixture will start to clump together when ready.

If you don't have a food processor, use your fingers to rub the margarine through the flour and sugar mix and then knead together until a dough forms.

Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or freezer for 10 minutes.

When the dough is chilled, preheat your oven to 180'C and spray 6 small tart tins with cooking spray. Alternatively, use muffin tins (as I did) if you don't have individual tart tins available.

Divide the dough into 6 equal balls and roll each to 3mm thick. Place into your prepared tins.

Prick the bottom of the dough and line with baking paper and pie weights, or rice (it won't be the end of the world if you don't line and fill them though). Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the lining/weights and bake for a further 5 minutes.

Remove the tarts from the oven and allow to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 140'C.

To make the filling, whisk together all ingredients except the nutmeg. Whisk well to ensure no lumps remain. Divide the filling between the tart cases and sprinkle with nutmeg. Don't worry if some of the filling overflows - it will firm up and also reduce slightly with cooking.

Bake the tarts for 35 mins or until the custard filling has set. 

Can be served warm or chilled. Will keep in the fridge, sealed / covered, for 3 to 4 days.

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