Soy-Custard Flan Tarts [GF]

With a plethora of eggs in my possession and an invitation to a garden party imminent, I finally had a perfect opportunity to attempt the soy-milk-based custard imitation I had long been hoping to turn into a flan-like reality.  As the guests at said garden party would certainly attest, the tiny pies which resulted from this experiment are yet another testament to the ability of soy milk to serve as a magnificent substitute for actual cow's milk in situations in which it really has no right to do so.  Indeed, while the consistency of the filling is admittedly more flan-like than creamy, this is actually an asset in terms of longevity: these tarts retain their consistency and flavor after refrigeration for a few days (or perhaps longer, but it's difficult to refrain from consume them for any longer duration).   

The recipe given here yields enough crust and custard for four tarts.  These can be flavored in the same manner if you prefer, or you can easily flavor the portion of custard that is to become into each tart independently.  Some suggestions for combinations of flavorings and icings/toppings for the tarts are provided below, although I'm sure you can imagine plenty of other possibilities which would be just as tasty of better.   

For the pie crust:

• 1½ cups white rice flour
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup vegan butter substitute
• 4 Tbsp. water

For the custard:

• 3 eggs
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1½ Tbsp. flavored liquer or ½ tsp. flavor extract

To make the crust, preheat the oven to 425°.   Mix the dry ingredients, cut the butter substitute into the mixture, and form the resulting mixture into crusts in four tart pans.  Bake the crusts for 10 minutes at 425°, remove from the oven, and allow them to cool to nearly room temperature.  Immediately upon removing the crusts from the oven, reduce the temperature to 350°.

To make the custard, place the eggs, sugar, salt, and soy milk into a medium-sized mixing bowl and beat well with a wire whisk.  If your goal is to flavor the whole quartet of tarts in an identical manner, stir in the liqueur or flavor extract and partition the mixture into the crusts.  However, if your goal is to flavor each tart differently, you can also divide the custard mixture into four equal parts (each of which turns out to contain almost precisely 1 cup) and flavor each with a different extract or liqueur.  Once the temperature of the oven has decreased to around 350°, place the tarts on a rack in the center of the oven and bake for 35-45 min. until the custard has set into a flan-like consistency.

Remove the tarts from the oven and place them on a rack or trivet on a countertop to cool.  Once they've cooled to slightly above room temperature, cover them with icing, jam, fruit, or whatever else you choose.  Ideally, these tarts should be served within about 30 minutes of preparation, if the goal is to serve them warm (they don't stand up terribly well to reheating).  However, if the goal is to serve them cold (which, given the similarity to flan, is actually a very good idea), they retain their initial consistency quite well even after refrigeration.

Some of the topping and flavor-infusion combinations which I've either tried and deemed successful, or else which am sure would work brilliantly if I had had the ingredients on hand when I'd had the inclination to make a batch of these tarts, are listed below.

Chocolate-peanut-butter icing:

• ½ cup roasted peanuts
• 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• ¼ tsp. almond, hazelnut, or vanilla extract
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup water

Place the peanuts in a food processor in process until the mass clumps and has the consistency of peanut butter (this may take several minutes).  Add all additional ingredients excepts for the water and process again.  Add the water incrementally while processing until the icing has a creamy consistency.  After spreading the icing on top of the tart, garnish with chopped medjool dates.  This icing is complemented well by infusing the flan with hazelnut liqueur, almond extract, or coffee liqueur.

Blackberry icing:

• ¼ cup fresh blackberries
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. corn starch
• 1 pinch nutmeg

In a small saucepan, heat the blackberries on low heat with the water and mash them into bits with a fork.  Add the salt, sugar, and nutmeg and stir the mixture.  While stirring, sprinkle the corn starch into the mixture and continue to stir until its viscosity perceptibly increases.  Remove from heat and allow to cool before spreading over the custard.  This icing is complemented well by infusing the flan with blackberry liqueur.  Variants of this recipe are easy to imagine in which blackberries are replaced by raspberries, peaches, strawberries, mangoes, etc.