It’s Mid Autumn Festival! I have leftover durian paste from making Snow Skin Durian Mooncake [1], and frozen flaky tart dough from making mushroom tarts [2]. We will celebrate this festival with the addition of the unconventional ‘Moon Tarts’ too!
I searched high and low for a Portuguese Durian Tart recipe and couldn’t find one. This is my made-up recipe and turned out pretty good. Definitely a keeper.
Ingredients
- Flaky tart dough [2]
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 ΒΌ cup whole milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 150g Mao Shan Wang durian paste
Directions
- Prepare flaky tart dough according to mushroom tart [2] recipe.
- Roll the dough out to 1/8″ thick and line the tart molds to prepare the tart shells.
- Freeze the uncooked tart shells in the mold until ready to use.
- Meanwhile, blend the durian flesh into a fine paste with a blender.
- Combine remaining ingredients in a sauce pan until incorporated.
- Stir in the durian paste and run the mixture through a sieve twice. Discard the durian pulp that can’t get through the sieve.
- Cook the custard in the sauce pan over low heat, stirring regularly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and run the custard through the sieve again.
- Cover the top of the custard with a piece of cling wrap to prevent a layer of skin from forming. Set aside and cool completely.
- When ready to assemble the tarts, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Remove the tart shells from the freezer and fill each shell with the custard to less than a quarter inch from the rim.
- Bake in the 450 degrees oven for 25 minutes until the crust and the top of the custard starts to turn golden brown.
- Use the broil setting for a few more minutes to char the top of the custard. Watch carefully not to burn the tarts completely.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- Unmold and enjoy a a smooth custard in crispy and flaky shells infused with the ‘fragrance’ of king of fruits!