Berry Tarts

Create the graham cracker crust first by stirring the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter together until you get a wet sand-looking mixture. Distribute the crumbs among 6 (8 oz) ramekins*, patting the crumbs down flat in the ramekins using a flat-bottom glass or other round flat object.

Bake the graham cracker crusts for 10 minutes at 350°F. Remove the ramekins from the oven and let them cool on the counter.

Create the pastry cream by warming up the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Do not let the milk boil. You want to warm the milk until it's hot and steaming, but not yet simmering.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar together. Once it's slightly more pale in its yellow color, add the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk everything to combine.

Slowly stream in the hot milk to the egg batter, adding the milk in small batches and whisking the batter vigorously as you pour in the milk. Once the two are completely combined, pour the entire batter back into the saucepan and move back over to the heat.

Whisk the batter over low heat until it begins to thicken and easily coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not take your eyes off the batter and do not stop whisking. As soon as the batter begins to thicken, take the saucepan off the stove and pour the batter into a clean bowl. If you have a few stubborn clumps, simply pour the batter through a sieve before pouring it into the clean bowl.

Stir in the vanilla bean paste, then place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the pastry cream. Chill the pastry cream until cold.

To assemble, scoop pastry cream into each of the prepared ramekins. Cut the strawberries into thick or thin slices (however you prefer) and arrange them, along with the blueberries on top of the pastry cream. Cover them all with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.