Black Sesame Torta della Nonna with Honey-Glazed Pine Nuts (Italian × Korean)

Method

1. Pastry: mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and finely grate in the lemon zest. Add the cold butter in 1 cm cubes and quickly rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like damp sand. Add the beaten egg (for half an egg, beat a whole one and use half; for the largest size add the yolk too), gather just until it holds together, flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for 1 h.

   Add in this stepPlain flour 135 gBaking powder ½ tspCaster sugar for the pastry 55 gSalt 1 pinchUnwaxed lemon ½Cold unsalted butter 70 gEgg for the pastry 1

2. Toast the black sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium-low heat for 3 min, stirring, until they smell nutty and start to pop, then tip them onto a plate straight away; burnt sesame tastes bitter. Once cool, grind them in a spice grinder or mortar until they turn into a fine, slightly damp powder.

   Add in this stepBlack sesame seeds 18 g

   medium-low heat

3. Custard: separate the eggs and keep one white for brushing. Warm the milk in a pan over medium heat for 4 min, until it bubbles at the edge, then turn off the heat. Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl until pale, pour in the hot milk a little at a time while whisking and return everything to the pan. Cook over medium-low heat for 3 min, whisking non-stop and scraping the bottom, until it bubbles once or twice and thickens. Take off the heat and whisk in the ground sesame until evenly grey.

   Add in this stepWhole milk 220 mlEggs (yolks for the custard, white for brushing) 2Caster sugar for the custard 45 gCornflour 18 g

   medium heat→medium-low heat

4. Scrape the custard into a wide dish, press cling film onto the surface and cool for 30 min. It must be lukewarm or cool so it doesn't melt the pastry.

5. Preheat the oven to 180 °C for 15 min. Line the base of a 16 cm tin with a removable bottom with baking paper. Roll two thirds of the pastry between sheets of baking paper to 3–4 mm, line the tin, press it up the sides and prick the base. Whisk the sesame custard briefly, spoon it in and level it, then roll out the rest of the pastry as a lid, seal and trim the edges and cut a small steam hole in the centre.

   oven

6. Beat the reserved egg white lightly, brush it thinly over the lid, scatter the pine nuts closely together and press them in gently. Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for 30 min, until the top is golden and the pine nuts are toasted. If they brown too fast, cover loosely with foil.

   Add in this stepPine nuts 25 g

   oven

7. Warm the honey in a small pan over low heat for 30 sec until runny, then brush it thinly over the pine nuts while the tart is still warm so they shine like Korean pine-nut brittle. Let the tart cool completely in its tin on a wire rack for 1 h before unmoulding and slicing.

   Add in this stepHoney 2 tsp

   low heat