In 2009, David Herbert released 'The Really Useful Cookbook' as a follow up to 'Complete Perfect Recipes. It costs almost twice as much as his first book, contains a number of drool-worth colour photos encased in a hard cover. It is worth it? I can't say I have used it as much as 'Complete Perfect Recipes' but if you are a fan of David Herbert's non fuss food, it's a must.
My dear friend Mellie and her lovely fiancee Aaron are back in Brisbane for Christmas. So when Mel text me today to see if I had time to hang out, I just jumped at the chance and said I would bake a Custard Tart. Slightly selfish on my part as I love Custard Tarts and wanted to try out my brand new tart tin. I've only made mini tarts from this David Herbert's Custard Tart recipe so I was keen to try out a 25cm tart. Here is a photo of the filled blind baked shell.
2 large eggs, 3 egg large egg yolks, 100g caster sugar beaten until thick. Combine with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of brandy. Heat 500ml of cream until small bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan and pour into the egg mixture.
Because I was expecting guests I decided to present the tart with some toffee. I placed 250g of caster sugar and a tablespoon of water in a saucepan, stirred until all the sugar was dissolved and then left the mixture to become golden. Once it was golden I then grabbed a spoon and drizzled the mixture on oiled paper to create gorgeous webbing. Here is result, served with vanilla ice cream. Mmmm.
P.S. To clean your toffee coated saucepan, add some cold water to the pan and pop it back onto the stove to dissolve. So easy!
It is the awesome Carmen's birthday and I thought I would surprise her by baking her something. But the challenge is that Carmen's brother is a super star chef who has worked in top restaurants, Quay and Urbane so I am weeing myself slightly. What could I make? Cake? Biscuits? Slices? I ended up thinking back to Australia Day where the lovely Renee made an awesome Easy Vanilla Slice. They were morish and I hoped that mine would be even half as neat as Renee's offering. The photo above is 1/2 cup custard power, 1/2 cup caster sugar, 1 cup of cream, 2 cups of milk and a 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract placed in a saucepan, stirred over medium heat to thicken. 
I then layered one pack of Arnott's Lattice Biscuits in a tray with the glazed side down. 
Once the custard is warm, spread the mixture over the biscuits. 
Layer another pack of the Lattice Biscuits over the custard. If you have cut some of the biscuits in half like I have, ensure your top and bottoms line up, otherwise it will be difficult to cut. Chill for 30 minutes and prepare the icing. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of pure icing sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of passionfruit pulp but I honestly thing you could cut the icing ingredients by half. 
Here is the finished result that I plan to take to work tomorrow. This Easy Vanilla Slice is great for barbecues, morning teas etc as they are so quick and easy to make, this might actually become a part of my regular food offering.
