These custard slices are just as scrumptious without the crumble or white chocolate, so leave them out if you prefer! 

Rooibos and vanilla custard slices

Makes 6 (8x6cm rectangles) 

Ingredients

400g puff pastry, defrosted

For the rooibos custard 

3 cups (750ml) milk, warmed
2 Rooibos tea bags
¾ cup (170g) caster sugar
5 Tbsp (50g) cornflour
6 egg yolks, room temperature
⅓ cup (80g) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

For the cinnamon crumble

½ cup (75g) flour
⅓ cup (67g) brown sugar
7 Tbsp (105g) butter, room temperature
1 heaped tsp (6ml) ground cinnamon

To assemble 

80g white chocolate, melted

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC. 
2. Roll puff pastry to 3mm thick. Cut pastry into two 20x20cm squares. Prick all over with a fork.  
3. Line a tray with baking paper. Place one pastry square on top, then cover with a second sheet of baking paper. (If you have another baking tray, do the same with the second pastry square, otherwise bake one at a time).  
4. Cover both evenly with dried rice or beans to weigh it down.  
5. Bake pastries for 20 minutes, then remove beans and paper and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden-brown.  
6. For the rooibos custard, warm milk and tea bags in a pot over high heat until steaming hot. Remove from the heat, stir well to release tea and set aside for 15 minutes to infuse. 
7. Return to stove and heat until steaming hot and set aside again for 10 minutes to infuse some more. Remove and discard the tea bags. 
8. Whisk together sugar, cornflour and egg yolks in a bowl until smooth.  
9. Slowly add ¼ cup of the warm milk infusion to the egg mixture in a steady stream while continuously whisking. (This tempers the eggs, preventing them from overheating and scrambling.)  
10. Add remaining milk infusion in a steady steam while whisking. 
11. Pour mixture back into the pot over medium heat and add the butter.  
12. Cook mixture over medium-high heat, stirring continuously, for about 5-8 minutes or until thickened and smooth. Lower heat as needed to avoid vigorous bubbling.   
13. Set a glass bowl and fine mesh sieve on a work surface. Strain custard to remove any lumps.  
14. Line a cake tin bottom and sides with foil.  
15. Place one pastry sheet into the tin, pour over custard and smooth with a spatula to level.  
16. Gently press the second pastry square onto the custard.  
17. Cover entire tin with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight to set.  
18. To make the crumble, preheat oven to 200°C.  
19. Using your fingertips, rub crumble ingredients into a rough crumb. 
20. Sprinkle onto a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Cool. 
21. Remove custard slice from tray and gently slice 6 squares using a bread knife.  
22. Lather melted chocolate on top of squares and sprinkle with crumble topping.  
23. Serve immediately with a cup of Rooibos tea. 

Pastry not playing ball? 

What happens if your pastry squares shrink, becoming smaller than the tin size? Before adding the custard, pull the tin foil lining away from the sides of the tin and up in line with where the base pastry square stops. Insert a small container or object to neatly take up the empty space left on the sides of the tin. This way, the tinfoil will lean against the containers as you pour in the custard, keeping the custard compact and in line with the pastry. Top with the second pastry square and cover as above.   

Recipes: Sjaan van der Ploeg and Fresh Living Magazine
Photographs: Zhann Solomons and Fresh Living Magazine

Also read: Rooibos-pear frangipane tart