Hong Kong Egg Tarts

They were out of egg custard tarts when I went to 99 Ranch.  So disappointed.  If I'd realized there was a difference between Western and Chinese puff pastry, I would have bought some while I was there.  Off to the internet for a recipe.

Egg tarts were originally Portugese, then the Chinese co-opted them and made them better.  Possibly payback for Marco Polo stealing pasta.  Now, they're a standard at Chinese bakeries and one of the items I look forward to most at dim sum.

After reading several recipes, I settled on the one from The Woks of Life.  It had the most sensible DIY crust, which I ended up tweaking only slightly.  All the fillings are pretty much the same on every site; the only change is the quantity you get out of it.  This one is like making croissants, except there's no yeast and you only have to do one turn.

I made these in muffin pans.  Sarah from The Woks of Life saved a pile of past egg tart tins for her project.  Genius.  I'll have to do that if I ever get a chance to buy them again.

Crust
1-1/2 C flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tb sugar
3/4 C (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2-4 Tb cold water
2 Tb shortening

1.  In a bowl, stir together flour, salt and sugar.  Cut in butter until flaky, but bigger pieces than you usually use in pie crust.  Add 2 Tb of water and the dough will start to come together.  Add water a tablespoon at a time until dough sticks together but is not moist.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes.

2.  Roll out dough on a floured surface to 8" x 20".  My extra large wooden board comes in handy some days.  Spread out shortening over 2/3 of the rectangle.  I used my hands and it got messy.  Maybe use a spatula.  Fold clean 1/3 over the middle, then the other 1/3 over that.  Turn the dough 1/4 turn and roll out to 8x20 again.  Do the tri-fold one more time, wrap back in plastic, and refrigerate 30 minutes or until you need it.  The dough can be sealed and frozen for use another day at this point.

Filling
1/2 C sugar
1 C water
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 C evaporated milk, room temperature
3/4 tsp vanilla

1.  Heat water and sugar until sugar dissolves, forming a light simple syrup.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

2.  Whisk eggs until smooth.  Add evaporated milk and vanilla and whisk again until uniform.  Whisk this mixture into the cooled syrup.

3.  Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.  This step is important to remove stray bits of albumen (egg white) and air bubbles from whisking, which will prevent the tops of the tarts from becoming glossy.

Assembly
1.  Roll out dough very thin.  I cut it in half to make it manageable.  Cut 5" rounds if using muffin tins, or to fit your mini-tart pans.  Try to do as many as possible on the first roll.  This is laminated dough; only the first roll will have the beautiful, flaky layers that separate.  The dough is just as good on subsequent rolls, but it won't flake the same.

2.  Start preheating the oven to 400º.  Gently coax the circles into the muffin tins.  If desired, flute the edges with a fork.

3.  Fill the pastry cups to just below the edge of the dough.  I did pan spray the tins because I didn't know what would happen, but the patty pans I didn't spray released the crust just as easily.  Bake on the low rack of your oven, or rotate halfway through.  Leave in for 15 minutes at 400º, then turn down the temperature to 350º for another 10-12.  The crust will start to get golden, but the custard should not brown.  You can see that the crust shrinks up, but the filling does not run over.

4.  Remove from oven and wait for them to stop bubbling.  They will deflate slightly, but retain the glossy shine.  Gently run a spatula around the edges, in case any egg is touching the pan.  Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan, before removing to a rack.  Can be eaten warm from the oven or room temperature.

Makes 2 dozen
Difficulty rating :-0