Dough:

  • ⅔ cup butter
  • 2 ¾ cup flour
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla
  • Cooking oil spray
  • 2 cups raw rice or beans

Custard:

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup cornstarch
  • 1 ¾ cup milk
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp. vanilla

Topping:

  • 1 pomegranate (and/or other fruit of your choice)

Directions:

  1. Sift the flour and confectioners sugar together. Add the butter and mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until dough forms a ball. Wrap dough in a saran-wrap (or place in a zip-top bag) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Grease a 9.5" tart pan with cooking oil spray.
  3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into a circle slightly bigger than the tart pan. Dough should be approximately 1/6 inch thickness.
  4. Gently roll the dough over the rolling pin, and roll into the pan. Press the dough into the bottom on the pan and cut off the edges. Use a fork and pierce the dough multiple times across the base.
  5. Place a piece of parchment paper over the dough and pour the raw rice or beans onto the paper. Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, remove parchment paper and weights, and cool completely before filling.

For the filling:

  1. Whisk the egg yolks with ½ cup milk. Strain and set aside.
  2. Mix the remaining milk with the corn starch and cook over a double boiler, stirring consistently for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk mixture and cook another 5 minutes. Add vanilla and stir until the mixture thickens, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from double boiler and set aside to cool.
  3. Once cooled, fill the tart shell with the custard and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

Yields: 8-10 servings