This beautiful custard tart was served in a feast at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore mentions this dessert to Harry. I think he should have kept this little secret for himself because it’s so good!
Over the summer, I’ve noticed that the Harry Potter movies have been playing on various channels. If my husband isn’t at home and Addie’s in bed, I try to catch some of the films. I still remember being very hesitant to read the books when they first came out and how a coworker finally convinced me to give them a try. She is one smart lady because I ended up loving the series.
Dumbledore mentioned a custard tart to Harry in the Chamber of Secrets novel. It was apparently being served at the feast shortly after Harry got in trouble for crashing Mr. Weasley’s flying car into the Whomping Willow. Oops.
I don’t know about you, but I would love to be served a custard tart whenever I got in trouble. Wouldn’t you?
This was such a hit with my husband and daughter. While they didn’t get the Harry Potter reference (my daughter is too young to read the series and it’s been a while since my husband read the books), they could easily appreciate the smooth, silky tart that was encased in a rich, buttery shortbread-like crust. My daughter immediately exclaimed that it was similar to a Chinese egg custard tart.
And she’s right. They are similar, but it’s noticeably less sweet and more solidified. My husband, who isn’t a huge fan of Chinese egg custard tarts, said that this was way better and really enjoyed this.
Even if you aren’t familiar with the Harry Potter books, I’m sure you will enjoy this as much as Dumbledore (and Harry) did!
Harry Potter's custard tart
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter chilled and sliced
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Custard
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the tart
- Place a tart pan with a removable bottom onto a baking pan and set aside.
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt until well blended. Add in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add in the egg yolk, heavy cream and vanilla and pulse until everything comes together into a large mound of dough. If it's too dry, add a dash more cream. If it's too wet, add a little bit of flour.
- Knead a few times and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
- Roll the dough out into an 11" circle. Transfer the dough to your tart pan and trim off the excess. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line the dough with a layer of aluminum foil and place pie weights (or dried beans) on it. Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and the weights, reduce the oven to 350 degrees F and bake another 8 minutes or until golden.
Make the custard
- While the crust is baking, make the custard. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the milk and heavy cream until simmering. Do not allow it to boil. In a separate small bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Pour about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the small bowl and whisk vigorously. Pour the egg yolk mixture into your saucepan and keep stirring until a custard forms. It should coat your spatula or spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
- Once the crust is baked, remove it from the oven and increase the temperature back to up to 375 degrees F. Pour the hot custard mixture onto the crust and bake for 15 minutes. The custard will be jiggly, and that's OK. Allow the tart to cool completely before serving.
I’m English and while I don’t read the Harry Potter books I do know what a traditional British custard tart looks and tastes like (it’s one of my favorites) and this doesn’t look much like it. This looks more like a lemon tart which is much more shallow and yellow than a custard tart. However if it comes from HP maybe they put a spell on the recipe and made it a bit differently. Regardless I’m sure it tastes very good.
Author
Thanks for the info on what a real custard tart should look and taste like. I can’t speak for the authenticity of it, obviously, but we enjoyed it nonetheless!
I’m sure you did. I’m going to try your recipe. I just like to make sure that my country’s dishes are known about because we Brits don’t have the best reputation for food anyway and custard tart is one of our best if done well – and a lot of Brits don’t do it well! While on this subject shepherds pie is the name for the dish with lamb and cottage pie is the correct name for the one with beef. And again, Brits forget this 😆. Thanks for all your encouragement in baking!
Author
Awesome – I need to try more British food. Sadly, we don’t have any around me. 😢