Baked blueberry custard flan

Method

1. First make the sugar dough. Place the butter, icing sugar, almonds, 70g of the flour and the salt into a mixer. Process at a high speed until smooth.

2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the egg, mixing well.

3. Scrape down the bowl well and add the remaining flour. Blend until fully combined.

4. Roll out the sugar dough between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper to around 2mm thickness. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3.

6. To make the Alsatian filling, place the whipping cream, vanilla pod and butter in a pan and bring to just under the boil.

7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs until thoroughly blended.

8. Add half of the hot whipping cream mixture to the sugar and egg mixture, mixing until smooth.

9. Mix in the remaining hot whipping cream mixture, then pass through a fine sieve.

10. Press the chilled sugar dough over the buttered base of a 20cm flan tin, trimming off the excess. Place the dough-lined base in the buttered flan ring.

11. Using a round 5cm cutter, cut out circles from the excess sugar dough. Slice the circles in half to form half moons.

12. Overlap the half moon dough slices around the flan tin to form a complete circle, pressing them onto the dough-lined base as well to from a pastry case.

13. Bake the pastry case for 30 minutes.

14. Remove the pastry case from the oven and brush with egg yolk.

15. Return the pastry case to the oven and bake it for a further 5 minutes, then remove it from the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 180°C/gas 4.

16. Place the frozen blueberries in the center of the warm pastry case, gently spreading them out towards the sides.

17. Pour over the Alsatian filling mixture then return the flan to the oven.

18. Bake the flan for 45 minutes.

19. Remove the flan from the oven, carefully remove the ring and serve warm.