Craig Scott enjoys Hilary Biller's end-of-season ruby plums, baking them in a pool of vanilla cream on a pastry base

MINI PLUM TARTS

Makes 8 -10

Pastry cream:

• 500ml (2 cups) milk
• 1 vanilla pod, split
• 6 large egg yolks
• 125g sugar
• 60ml ( cup) cornflour

Other ingredients:

• 400g ready-made puff pastry, defrosted
• 8 -10 ruby plums, stoned and sliced
• Icing sugar, sifted, for dusting

Method:

For the pastry cream, heat the milk and vanilla pod in a saucepan.In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and whisk in the cornflour until smooth.

Strain the warm milk into the egg mixture, whisking well. Discard the vanilla pod. Pour back into the saucepan, return to the heat and stir constantly until it comes to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out circles big enough to line the base and sides of individual greased or sprayed tartlet pans. Place the pans on baking trays, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Remove from the fridge and spoon a generous dollop of pastry cream into each pastry shell, smoothing with the back of a spoon. Arrange plum slices on top and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 15 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and serve.