Custard squares are a bit of a Kiwi tradition, you are always lucky to find them in a café as they don’t normally last long. There can be some technique involved in eating one, if the custard filling is too soft then when you bite into the pastry top and bottom, the custard squishes out the middle and ends up on your shirt.
I have always wanted to try making them as they are a favourite of mine, so when Geoff our engineering colleague in Dunedin said that his mum’s café in Christchurch had an easy recipe I jumped at the chance to get my hands on it.
Geoff’s Mum Ruth explains below:
“I make good, old fashioned custard squares, just one tray once a week and served over two days. My customers know that if they are after custard squares that they need to come in on a Wednesday or Thursday… sometimes a couple pieces might make it to Friday. These customers range from little old ladies to big tough workmen, they all love them. There is a constant debate going on about the custard squares, that is, whether or not coconut belongs on the top…but I say yes, because that is how my mum used to make them.”
Ruth Mitchell – Prebbleton Cafe Christchurch
