Upside down egg tart

Not every cooking experiment is a first-time success. Behind every successful dish, there are at least a handful of failures. Why should the failures be hidden from light, especially when they make life so fun! 


I wanted to try baking sweets. So I got a recipe from a friend for graham cracker crust that looked like this:


Recipe of a Graham cracker crust for 9-inch pie


Ingredients:
- 1+1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 3 tablespoon sugar


Procedure:
Mix all ingredients. Press mixture firmly against bottom and side of pie plate of 9"x1+1/4". Bake at 350F for 10 minutes or as directed.


I thought that was simple, except that the portion size was too big. I decided to bake only part of the mixture with a mini baking dish. Then, I beat an egg with a little milk and sugar, poured it onto the crust and let it bake at 350F. After 5 minutes, the tart looked done. I couldn't wait to try a bite. As it turned out, the crumbs had floated on top of the egg mixture, and formed an upside-down crust covering the custard!

Even then, it tasted really good. So I had a great laugh eating away the upside-down egg tart while musing on what happened. Perhaps I did not press the crumbs firmly enough. Or perhaps the crust should be baked separately. The tough part of my learning from recipes alone is that I lack "common sense". How big are the "crumbs"? How "mixed" is mixed? How "firm" is firm? Do I bake it with filling or without? The second time was better. The egg mixture blended in somewhat with the crust, but the crust stayed to the bottom. 

Still have a long way to go. But success won't be too far away. A 1-person tart is much easier to experiment than a 9" pie.