Flaky Baked Custard Egg Tart

Delicate Egg Tart, nice to eat, kinda hard to make


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Haven't really try to do this delicacy as I'm a noob in pastry. So, spoken to my EXEC DIM SUM CHEF and he gave me a few tips and when I search the net, hmmmm similar tips was given as well. So, I tried and done this once.


Given the recipes by him as follows :

Produced about 10 - 12 tarts.

Crust Ingredient

1 egg
100 gm confectionery sugar
200 gm soften butter / margarine ( if lard, use less, about 70gm will suffice I guess )
350 gm flour
3-5 drops vanilla essence

Filling Ingredient

100 gm castor sugar/ sugar ( your choice )
680 ml water
3-5 drops vanilla essence
9 eggs
250 ml evaporated milk/regular milk ( your choice )


Direction

For crust

1 Work the lard or butter or margarine into the flour with the tips of your fingers, until the mixture has the appearance of coarse breadcrumbs. Continue kneading, adding hot water, a little at a time. Knead till all are well mixed. Roll the dough into a large ball, cover with wax paper and refrigerate while preparing the custard filling.

2 Texture of dough should be slightly moist, not dry (add margarine if too dry), and not oily (add flour if too oily).







For filling



1 Lightly beat the eggs, taking care not to produce any air bubbles. Stir in the milk, vanilla essence and the sugar.
2 For those who have the DOUGH ( $$$$ ) add some bird's nest into the filling .

On a large, lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is very thin (about 1/8-inch or 3 to 4 mm thick). Cut the dough in half before rolling out if needed. This delicate dough cannot take repeated rolling and shaping. Use a pastry cutter to cut out 18 circles that are 3-inches in diameter. Fit the circles into the tart shells. Press in using your thumb and ensure uniform in thickness.

Pour into crust to about 3/4 full and baked at 180C for 20 - 30 minutes. Err...I did not time, so this is only a guesstimation ( what a word ). Anyway, do take a peek once every 15 minutes and gauge from there. It should be ready when the crust is golden brown and the filling had risen a lil. Believed it will nedd at least 25 minutes at that temperature. Most website suggest at 230C, which i think its too high as this delicate dough will burn before the filling is cooked.

Voila ! Your own home baked egg tart.

TIPS from the CHEF ( not me ) *chuckle*

Eggs - Lightly beaten taking care not too produce bubbles or your filling will be pockmarked. Sieve before using to remove calazae for a finer and smoother texture.

Flour - Sieve the flour before using

Filling - ensure it is at room temperature before pouring into the crust.

Baking depends on skills. Personally I ( fooDcrazEE ) suggest at 180 C for a nicer even colour of crust and ensuring the filling does not cracked or separate.

Chinese prefer to use lard to create a flakier, light crust. However, due to health purpose, many had changed to margarine and this does not produce crust as good the LARD.

Some people would like to scald the milk before using. You can do that but do not boil the milk. Just scald them or your filling will BREAK or SEPARATE.

Enjoy !