Ingredients

• 150ml pouring cream
• 125ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 8 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 6 black peppercorns
• 1 black tea bag
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Little pinch ground nutmeg
• 6 egg yolks
• 3 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
• Plain flour, to dust
• 40g (1/4 cup) pistachios, finely chopped
• Icing sugar, to dust

Method

• Step 1 Use a pastry brush to lightly grease eighteen 80ml (1/3 cup) muffin pans with melted butter. Place the greased pans in the fridge to chill, while preparing the custard filling.
• Step 2 Place cream, milk, sugar, cardamom, peppercorns, tea, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Remove immediately from heat. Set aside for 2 hours to infuse.
• Step 3 Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced. Pour cream mixture through a fine sieve into a jug. Place yolks in a large bowl and, whisking constantly, gradually add cream mixture. Sieve mixture again and set aside.
• Step 4 Cut a pastry sheet in half and stack one half on top of the other. Roll up the pastry to form a tight log. Cut the log into 6 even portions. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheets.
• Step 5 Roll out portions on a floured surface to 3mm-thick discs. Press into pans. Trim excess. Place in fridge for 15 minutes to chill. Line with baking paper. Fill with weights. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights.
• Step 6 Reduce oven to 160°C/140°C fan forced. Divide egg mixture among pastry. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden and custard is just set (mixture will wobble slightly). Sprinkle with nuts. Set aside to cool. Dust with icing sugar.