Cazamel Tart + Model Shots

I fucking love caramel.

It's one of those ingredients (like butter) that you can just lump on anything and it tastes good.

Icecream...Pancakes...Cereal...Steak.

Seriously even with steak.

Actually, steak could be one of those ingredients as well. Mung on some caramel with ya green beans and chippies and you're set for a good wholesome dinner. Slash toilet. Double slash G.P.

My friend and her fabulous beautiful gorgeous lovely sister lived at Mooloolaba with some other room mates who refused to go shopping so when times got tough, these two would have to make do with what they had.

One hopeless case of this was when she woke up craving an egg on toast.

And when this girl craves an egg on toast...there is no fucking stopping her getting her egg on her toast.

This girl would put her hand up a chicken to get an egg to cook to put on that toast.

You catch my drift.

Anyway, she went into the fridge, got her egg, her toast and plonked it on the counter. Cooked the egg, cooked the toast and went into the fridge to get the butter.

Need I say more?

Yeah I probs should aye.

THERE WAS NO FUCKING BUTTER!

Holy guacamole, what do you do when there's no butter! Margarine? Are you crazy? Do you have a condition? Because you talkin' smack gurl.

So, in her fury and rage, she picked up the closest thing to butter in the fridge she could find...spread it on her toast...plonked her egg on top...and munched that bad boy right up. And she was happy.

Just so you know...that condiment...was passionfruit yoghurt.

Back to the point of my story...you can put caramel on anything if you can eat passionfruit yoghurt + egg + toast.

Personally, it tastes a hell of a lot better when you bake it into a tart. Like I did. Which leads me to the recipe that is the point of this blogpost. A caramel tart. A custardy almond caramel tart.

However before I divulge in this recipe...I promised I'd feature some of my mates on the blog because I told them I wrote Cookie Jar and they didn't believe me. Just wanted to explain the model shots that were popping up between my preamble paragraphs.

Enjoy! (Double enjoy da babez presenting you da TaArRt!)

Caramel Tart (adapted from epicurious.com)

(Now this tart is pretty average...The components by themselves are FREAKING BRILLIANT but the whole thing all together just doesn't seem to mesh. I think I'd suggest serving the custard by itself or just using the recipe for the tart base for a lemon tart or something along those lines...)

Crust

1/2 cup dry roasted almonds

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup icing sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 large egg yolk

Pudding

2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups of milk (preferably whole milk for the consistency)

3 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cup flaked almonds (I used whole but use flaked)

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

three tablespoons of coconut cream

1 tablespoon butter

For crust.

Butter 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Combine almonds and 1/4 cup sugar in processor to make an almond meal. Add flour, powdered sugar, and salt and blend the bad boy. Add butter and blend again (SO MUCH BLENDING) until coarse meal forms. Add egg yolk and blend until moist clumps form, about 30 seconds. Knead dough into ball. Press remaining dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Pierce bottom all over with fork. Cover pan with foil and freeze crust at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius. Bake crust uncovered until deep golden brown, checking often and pressing sides and bottom with back of fork during first 15 minutes when crust puffs or bubbles, about 20 minutes total. Cool completely.

For pudding.

Place cornstarch and salt in medium bowl. Gradually add 1/4 cup milk, whisking until cornstarch dissolves. Whisk in egg yolks.

Stir sugar and 1/3 cup water in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush. Boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, swirling pan occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups milk (mixture will bubble). DO NOT FREAK OUT LIKE I DID AND WHEN IT GOES ALL HARD THE CARAMEL WILL EVENTUALLY MELT. Whisk until caramel bits dissolve. Slowly whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture; return to same pan. Whisk until pudding thickens and boils, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer to crust. Chill uncovered until cold and just firm, at least 3 hours.

For topping.

Stir 2/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water in heavy medium skillet (do not use nonstick) over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush. Boil without stirring until syrup is medium amber color, about 7 minutes.

Add butter and coconut cream and vanilla. Yum. Add almonds and stir to coat evenly with caramel. Immediately scrape coated almonds onto sheet of foil. Working quickly with 2 forks, separate almonds and spread out in single layer. Cool completely. Do ahead Let almonds stand at room temperature up to 6 hours or cover and chill up to 1 day.

Break almonds into small clusters before using.