These Cereal Milk Tartlets have a funfetti blondie crust filled with pastry cream made with Lucky Charms cereal milk! Topped with homemade vanilla bean whipped cream and Lucky Charms marshmalows, these little cuties are magic!
In a small bowl, combine cereal (WITH MARSHMALLOWS REMOVED; see note), milk, cream, and salt. Allow to set at room temperature for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
For Pastry Cream:
In a medium saucepan, combine the cereal milk, vanilla bean paste (see note), and salt. In a small heatproof bowl, combine egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar.
Cook cereal milk mixture oven over medium heat until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring often.
Using a measuring cup, gradually pour about one cup of the hot cereal milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This step tempers the eggs. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan.
Continue to cook pastry cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it just starts to boil. Mixture will thicken as it cooks.
Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk the pastry cream until it cools slightly. Beat in the butter, whisking until incorporated.
Pour the pastry cream into a medium heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic, pressing the wrap to the surface of the pastry cream to ensure it doesn't form a skin. Refrigerate until completely cooled.
For Blondie Crust:
Preheat oven to 325° F (see note). Melt butter and let cool slightly. Grease six 4" tartlet pans (see note) and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, milk powder [see note], baking soda, salt, and sprinkles). Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix well.
Add egg and vanilla bean paste (see note), and mix until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes.
Add the dry ingredients and gently mix with a spatula or wooden spoon just until incorporated, taking care not to break the sprinkles.
Divide the dough amongst the prepared tartlet pans. I used about 6 tablespoons of dough per tartlet, which was about 90 grams. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of each pan.
Place the tartlet pans on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until blondies are set in the center and slightly golden on the edges.
The crusts will fall a bit in the center as they cool, but I used a small measuring cup to press down the centers while they were still warm to ensure there would be room for filling. Let the crusts cool completely in the pans.
For whipped cream:
Place cold heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste (see note) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Start the mixer on low speed, and gradually increase the speed to high. Whip until the cream thickens and forms peaks.
Assembly:
Divide the chilled pastry cream amongst the cooled blondie crusts, smoothing the tops. Top pastry cream with whipped cream. If desired, sprinkle with Lucky Charms marshmallows.Enjoy!
Notes
Note on cereal: You can really use whatever kind of cereal you prefer. I went with Lucky Charms because I was making these close to St. Patrick's Day. That said, if you use a cereal with marshmallows, make sure to REMOVE THEM before making your cereal milk. I thought the marshmallows would make the milk nice and pink...but it made it a little blue. Blue enough that the addition of egg yolks made it a really putrid green that no one would want to eat! Note on vanilla bean paste: I enjoy the flavor of vanilla bean paste and love the little black flecks that it leaves in baked goods. <3 If you’d like to get some vanilla bean paste for yourself, you can find some [here]. If you’d rather substitute, you can use an equal measure of vanilla extract. If you use vanilla extract in the pastry cream, wait until you remove the pan from the heat to add the butter to add the vanilla.Note on dried milk powder: I know, it's not a typical blondie ingredient, but the results it produces are so good! The texture and richness that it provides just can't be beat! Just make sure that you're using dried milk powder and NOT malted milk powder, which is a different animal. If you can't find dried milk powder, I use this brand [here].Note on tartlet pans: I used six 4" tartlet pans with removable bottoms, like these [here]. You could opt to make one 9" tart with these same ingredients, but you'd definitely need a longer bake time for the crust.Note on oven temperature: The tartlet pans that I have have a dark, nonstick surface. As such, they bake up a little faster/browner. I baked my blondie crusts at 325 degrees F. If you have pans that are light in color, you may want to increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.