Lime Custard Creams

So I think I just invented a biscuit…who knows! Probably not considering all the inventive bakers in the world… But anyway, you probably know by now that I like to experiment a bit and I tend to directly disobey recipe books! Sometimes this doesn’t work at all, but other times you invent new biscuits (maybe)! So here’s the story…

I was making macarons (see my other post here) and that requires separating eggs. For some reason that day I was all over the shop! I honestly reprimanded myself out loud several times, that’s how bad it was! I was meant to separate two eggs, but instead separated three. And I screwed up the first separation. So I had 1 egg, 3 yolks and 1 egg white that needed using. Normally, when I’m not so scatterbrained, I use the egg yolks to make custard (the ultimate non-chocolate indulgence…I say non-chocolate because I think chocolate is the ultimate indulgence, and you can’t have ultimate indulgence without it!). But now making custard didn’t solve my I-have-egg-yolks-not-whole-eggs-that-need-to-be-used-ASAP-otherwise-I’ll-have-to-throw-them-out-and-I-hate-that scenario. It sort of solved it but not entirely. So, enter my rebellious inner baker who has little regard for baking rules…

What if I used a combination of yolks and whites in the custard (insert a very shocked Mary Berry/Nigella Lawson/Margaret Foulton face here)?! I know it’s sacrilege, and to be honest, I really didn’t know if it would work! But wait, it gets more rebellious…

I also didn’t have any cream. And I am not the sort of baker who happily wanders down to the local shops to pick up a few ingredients. I hate doing that (so rebellious). And instead of just using extra milk, like any sane, non-rebellious person would, I chose something truly shocking…Greek yoghurt! Awful, I know! But let’s get something straight – Greek yoghurt is possibly the best thing I have in the fridge. It’s always in enormous supply in our fridge (it almost rivals my butter supply!), and is actually beneficial for your health…wait, what?! Something to do with baking is good for you! I know right! That’s partly why I love Greek yoghurt so much!! (Oh and don’t worry, I don’t pretend that adding Greek yoghurt to custard makes it healthy! Just slightly less bad, maybe? I hope so!)

So back to the story, I made custard with egg whites and Greek yoghurt. It sounds awful doesn’t it? Yep, well it was amazing. Naturally, it doesn’t taste like traditional custard, but you can’t try to make Greek yoghurt taste like cream; it really isn’t convincing. So the only way to move on from that sad reality is to accept the truth and make the custard taste good  by making the most of the Greek yoghurt, not by trying to cover it up! You do this by thinking differently when you taste it. My initial response was, hmmm, that doesn’t taste like custard. What can I add to make it taste like custard?  But then I tasted it again and realised that Greek yoghurt custard actually has a really nice tang to it, almost like lime.

That got me thinking. As yet, I didn’t know what to do with this custard and I was biding my time trying to figure something out. But realising that it tasted like lime gave me an idea. Custard (or at least creme patissere, or pastry cream) is often used to fill sweet things like profiteroles or eclairs. It could also be used between biscuits. Mmmmmhmmmm. That’s the money, right there. So what if I made a lime biscuit and sandwiched them together with the custard?

So I did. And it tasted brilliant. Actually brilliant, not a oh-this-isn’t-really-custard-but-I-guess-it-tastes-okay sort of brilliant, but a real this-tastes-good-in-its-own-right brilliant. So may I present, the lime custard cream!

 

Custard Ingredients

(from Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall with my own additions)

1 egg

3 egg yolks

100g caster sugar

200ml Greek yoghurt

250ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise

1 tsp cornflour

2 tsp plain flour

1 tbsp lime juice

Custard Method:

1. Heat milk in a saucepan on the stove with the vanilla bean. Add Greek yoghurt and heat until just before it begins to boil. Take it off the heat and let it sit for a minute or two. Take out the vanilla pod and scrape all the seeds out and put them back into the saucepan.
2. Whisk eggs, sugar and cornflour in a large bowl until pale. Slowly add the milk and yoghurt mixture to this, whisking as you go.
3. Now put it all back in the saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring the whole time until it thickens a little to coat the back of a spoon. Take it off the heat and leave to cool.

Biscuit Ingredients

(from Women’s Weekly with my own additions)

200g butter, softened

 160g icing sugar

260g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

zest of 1 lime

1 tsp lime juice

Biscuit Method:

1. Beat butter, sugar, juice, egg and zest until pale. Add flour and soda and gently combine.
2. Roll teaspoon sized balls in your hands and place on a lined baking tray, and flatten slightly, space about 2cm apart.
3. Bake at 150C fan-forced for around 12 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool on wire racks.
4. When completely cooled sandwich together with the custard cream – piping works well. Dust with icing sugar if desired.

 

Happy Baking!

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