Crème Brûlée Tart

overhead shot of tart with two slices cut into it on white plate with another slice beside on smaller white plate with flowers around.

Take your love of crème brûlée to the next level with this delicious Crème Brûlée Tart! Every bite is rich, creamy, decadent, with just the right amount of crunch from the brûlée'd sugar and buttery crust. It is SO. GOOD.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 55

Refrigeration Time: 3

Total Time: 4 25

Servings:

Calories: 423kcal

Ingredients

Crust

1½ cups all purpose flour*
⅔ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
7½ Tablespoons salted butter cold, sliced
1 large egg room temperature
1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 2-inch piece vanilla bean split
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
6 large egg yolks room temperature
¼ cup salted butter sliced

To Finish

¼ cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Crust

Heat oven to 350℉.
Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a dough blade.
Pulse to combine.
Add butter, a little at a time, pulsing until combined.
Add egg and vanilla.
Pulse until it forms a smooth dough.
Turn dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Form into a ball.
Flatten slightly.
Cover with another sheet of parchment paper.
Roll into a circle that it ¼ inch thick.
Carefully fit dough into 9 inch tart pan, making sure to press out air bubbles.
Trim edges.
Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the tart dough.
Fill with pie weights.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven.
Carefully remove pie weights.
Cover edges of dough.
Return to oven.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is light golden brown.

Filling

In a medium bowl, stir together cornstarch and sugar.
Whisk in egg yolks.
In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cream, and vanilla bean.
Heat over medium low heat just until mixture starts to bubble around the edges.
Remove vanilla bean.
While whisking, add hot milk mixture to egg mixture a little at a time.
Return to saucepan.
Cook over medium low heat, stirring continuously, until thickened and holding its shape.
Remove from heat.
Whisk in butter.
Spoon into cooled tart crust.
Smooth out top of filling.
Refrigerate until set, about 2-3 hours.

To Finish

Sprinkle sugar evenly on top of set tart.
Use a kitchen torch to brûlée sugar.

Notes

*This recipe was written using an average of the dip and sweep method for measuring flour and the spoon and level method. If you are using a scale, you will need to add 3/4 oz or 22 g to the measurement for each cup of flour.

Substitutions:

If you don't have vanilla beans, you can use about ½ teaspoon of high quality vanilla or vanilla bean paste!
Not a fan of cornstarch or want to freeze this tart? Use All-Purpose Flour instead! Just remember you will need ½ cup of flour to equal ¼ cup cornstarch.

Expert Tips:

For the best results, use a tart pan with a removable bottom!
Be careful to not over-work the dough! Pulse until the mixture comes together. Nothing more! The less you work your dough, the more tender it will be.
Don’t skip lining your tart with parchment before adding the pie weights! This is essential, as you need to be able to remove the pie weights.
Make sure the pie weights are completely level and covering the bottom of the tart. This helps ensure nothing rises more than it needs to.
Remember to spoon out the vanilla bean before tempering the eggs with the hot milk mixture!
The crust doesn’t need to be overly browned. Just lightly browned. Keep an eye on it!
When making the filling and it begins to thicken, don’t panic! Let it keep cooking for 2 minutes afterwards. It should be very thick before stirring in the butter.
Cover the top of the tart with plastic wrap before refrigerating to help keep a skin from forming over the custard.
Don't brûlée the sugar until right before serving!

Nutrition