RECIPE | Mini Hong Kong Egg Tarts (蛋塔)

*12/11/2013: I've made some changes to the custard recipe. It turned out sooo much eggier! :D

I personally am not a fan of Dim Sum or Yum Cha (the Chinese version of teatime and finger foods) since there's never anything that I like to eat...with the only highlight being the desserts. What I look forward to most is the Hong Kong Egg Tarts, or Dan Tat in Cantonese, that's basically a tart filled with egg custard.

The thing that annoys me most about restaurant egg tarts is that the traditional crispy flaky crust (reminiscent of puff pastry) makes eating them so messy...and also the fact that one order only gives you about three tiny tarts (four if you're lucky) for you to share with your whole table...boo.

So I resolved to find a good egg tart recipe so I can make a whole pan for myself. It was super difficult to find one since there aren't a whole lot of English-blogs specializing in Asian desserts, but I stumbled upon this video by DessertzHouse for egg tarts with a butter crust (no flakies!) and I tweaked the recipe a bit to even out the ratio of custard to crust. It was actually a lot harder than I thought, but the yummy result is definitely worth the effort :)

Mini Hong Kong Egg Tarts (蛋塔)

Recipe adapted from DessertzHouse

(Difficulty: Intermediate - Advanced)

Makes ~36 mini tarts, or ~12 regular sized tarts

Ingredients

Biscuit Crust

(1) 1 stick of butter

(2) 1 1/2 cup flour
(3) 1 egg

(4) 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Egg Custard

(5) 3 eggs
(6) 1/3 cup white sugar

(7) 50 ml evaporated milk (can substitute with milk or cream)
(8) 150 ml water (not shown) 

(9) 1 tsp vanilla extract (not shown)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 395 degrees Fahrenheit. We're going to start the egg custard first because we need it to cool.

2. Pour the 150 ml water into a pan and dissolve the sugar as it heats up to form a syrup. Let cool and then place it in the fridge.

3. Now we're going to start the crust. In a food processor, drop in the butter. I cut the butter into smaller pieces so it would incorporate better.


2. Add in the flour, powdered sugar, and egg. Pulse until combined. If you don't have a food processor, kneading with your hands is definitely fine.



3. Take the mixture out of the food processor and knead until smooth.

4. Roll out balls about 1" in diameter and drop into mini tart pan. You can use a cupcake tin to make larger tarts if you want or these individual tart tins.

5. I found forming the tarts into a bowl shape to be the hardest part. I do own a tart tamper but it was too big, so I had to manually press the dough with my fingers. Press the dough out from the middle to the edges to form the tart. Be careful not to make the bottoms too thin or else the custard will leak out.

6. Take your syrup out of the fridge and pour it into a bowl.

7. Add in the two three eggs, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk well.

8. Pour this mixture through a mesh strainer into an lipped cup. I used my measuring cup.

9. After straining, pour the custard mixture into the tarts you formed earlier. Be careful not to pour too quickly or it will overflow. 90% full should be good.



10. Bake at 395 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until the custard just begins to puff slightly. Crack open the oven door and lower the temperature to 350. Prick the custard with a toothpick to check doneness; if it stands straight up by itself, it's ready.

11. Enjoy! Yum yum a whole pan to myself~ These are best served straight out of the oven and can be kept at room temp over night, but should be put in the fridge any longer than that. Eat within a week (although I'm sure you'll have no problem with that).

Troubleshooting

*The tarts can sometimes be temperamental: my oven at home bakes them fine at 375, but my oven here bakes them better at 400. 

*For the mini tarts, the crust bakes a little quicker than for the regular sized tarts so keep an eye on them.
*I ran into the problem of the custard part inflating and puffing up this time :( This is usually the result of not whisking or straining your custard mixture thoroughly OR if your oven's too hot. Don't forget to strain and crack your oven door open about halfway through when they just start to puff. A couple friends tried that method and they got perfect non-concave tarts.