Flan Pâtissier (French Custard Tart)

Vanilla Bean House vanilla beadsVanilla beans from Vanilla Bean House
How to scrape out vanilla seeds from vanilla beansHow to scrap out vanilla bean seeds
1. How to make the custard for Flan Pâtissier
The custard for Flan Pâtissier uses both egg and cornflour to set it. There’s an ideal balance of the two that will achieve the right richness and set consistency so the tart can be cut into neat slices, yet the custard melts in your mouth when you eat it. I tried quite a few combinations before landing on what I think is the perfect balance!

Infuse milk with vanilla
How to make Flan Patissier
Heat milk with 1/4 cup of sugar*, vanilla seeds and the leftover vanilla pods (see video for how I scrape the seeds out). Bring it to just below a boil. As soon as you see the milk starting to foam and rise, remove it straight from the stove.

TIP: Keep an eye on it as the milk starts to get hot because milk loves to boil over quite quickly!

* Adding a bit of sugar in this step helps to ensure the milk doesn’t scald on the base.

Infuse – Place the lid on (to prevent a skin from forming and loss of volume through evaporation) and leave for 10 minutes. This gives the milk time to be infused with the vanilla flavour as well as to cool slightly which eliminates any risk of hot milk accidentally scrambling the eggs in the next steps.

Eggs and cornflour mixture (thickening)
How to make Flan Patissier
Eggs and cornflour (cornstarch) – Whisk the egg yolks, whole egg and sugar together until combined. Then whisk the cornflour in. It’s best to whisk eggs and sugar first before adding cornflour else you end up with a flurry of flour!

Slowly add half milk (tempering) – While whisking, slowly pour in half the milk. Just whisk until combined.

Don’t worry, there’s no risk of accidentally scrambling the eggs with the hot milk because it cooled in the 10 minutes we left it to infuse with the vanilla! However we still temper the mixtures in this step as an extra layer of safety.

Cook custard to thicken
How to make Flan Patissier
Thicken custard on stove – Pour the egg/milk mixture into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk mixture. Then place it on a medium-low stove (or low, if your stove is strong), whisking constantly but leisurely, to ensure the base doesn’t catch. At first the mixture will be watery but after about 2 to 3 minutes as the it starts to heat up, you will suddenly feel the custard starting to thicken. Such a satisfying moment!!

Big lazy bubbles – Once the custard starts thickening, the next thing you are looking for is big, fat lazy bubbles popping up on the surface which indicates the custard is thick enough. Pause stirring for a few seconds to check if you have bubbles (see video).

20 seconds whisking – Once you see the lazy bubbles, keep whisking for another 20 seconds on the stove, then remove it from the heat.

Thick and creamy custard! This photo shows how the custard should look at this stage: Thick and creamy, it should leave ribbons on the surface when drizzled but still be pourable (see below for good visuals, or video).

Butter, straining and cooling
How to make Flan Patissier
Enrich with butter – This is a FRENCH custard tart, so it should come as no surprise that we’re sneaking some butter in here to enrich the custard!

Strain – Pass the custard through a fine mesh strainer. This is to remove any larger chunks of vanilla that were loosened from the beans.

Press through all the custard and be sure to scrape the base of the strainer well. Then lick that spatula clean. Yes that’s an instruction – don’t waste a drop of that precious custard! 😂

Custard thickness – This is what the custard should look like at this stage. You can tell by looking at the surface how the custard is thick and creamy.