eggy improvements!

egg tarts are one of the must-haves for dim sum outings but unfortunately, supplies here in aussie are much less than demands.

as such, it is always handy to have a simple egg tart recipe to create your own especially when your craving for them kicks in. but to be honest, cravings won't ever be the incentive for me to make egg tarts because the tedious process of making the pastry is enough to drive me nuts. for some reason or other, i never had much luck with shaping pastry nicely in the way professional bakers do. hence, explaining the ugly appearance of my egg tarts even though taste-wise they are quite ok.

but since people love egg tarts, there's no harm trying to make this rare treat occasionally, right? hahaha...so here it is jon poh, the egg tarts recipe that you have requested for! i hope that you'll have much better results than me!


Ingredients (makes ~20):
Pastry- 200 g butter, 80g icing sugar (sifted), 360g (about 3 and 1/4 cups) superfine flour/ AP flour will do (sifted), 1 beaten egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Filling-6 eggs (lightly beaten and put through sieve to remove lumpy egg white)/ 8 egg yolks (if you don't want slightly whitish appearance for your filling), 480ml water, 160g sugar, 80ml evaporated milk (creamier so produce nicer egg tarts), 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Steps:
Pastry making
1) Beat softened butter and icing sugar in small mixing bowl till light and fluffy
2) Add in beaten egg and vanilla essence
3) Beat till egg is incoraporated
4) Add in flour and mix till non-sticky dough is formed
5) Chill dough for about 2 hours

Making the filling
1) Dissolve sugar in boiling water.Set aside to cool
2) When syrup has cooled, add in beaten eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla essence. Mix well

Baking the final product!:
1) Divide pastry into 20 portions.
2) Press each portion into greased tart moulds and trim excess
3) Prick base of each tart with fork
4) Fill in egg mixture to about 90% full
5) Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree celcius for 25-30 minutes (careful not to overcook or burn the top or you'll get Portuguese egg tarts instead!)
6) Leave tarts in moulds for 10 minutes to cool before turning out to prevent pastry from cracking

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD ASPIRE TO ACHIEVE: RESTAURANT STYLE EGG TARTS!!!

all the best!