Egg tarts

Anyone living in Hong Kong knows there are two kinds of egg tarts. The Chinese one, simply called egg tart, and the Portuguese one. The two seem quite similar, but differ in terms of both crust and filling. My own preference is to the Portuguese which I find creamier and tastier, not taking anything away from the regular egg tart, which always seem to be on the verge of being undercooked.

I already made a Portuguese tart once but was unhappy with the crust so decided to try again. The shell is a basic puff pastry which I was not about to make, and I don't advise anyone to do so either. Store bought ones are perfectly fine in this instance. The Chinese egg tarts' dough typically incorporated sugar, egg and vanilla. I've also heard they sometimes use custard powder as an easy way to get that sweet eggy colour.

For the Portuguese tart shell, you buy a package of puff pastry dough which comes in two rectangular sheets. Take out the sheets and lay them on top of each other and roll them up into a tube. Slice circles from the tube about 1/4 inch wide, then press flat. Roll them out until they are very thin, then press into the metal tart shells (I bought some for 50 cents a piece at Pacific Mall). Trim off the edges.

I made the custard filling by whisking four egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp cornstarch. Then, on a medium heat, slowly whisked in about 16 oz of cream/milk. You can adjust the ratio of cream to milk, but I used about a 2:1 and it seemed fine. Even using 100% milk will work fine; you'd just lose some of the creaminess.

Once it reaches the boil, add about 2 teaspoons of vanilla. I also added some lemon zest which gives it a nice lemony undertone. Be careful not to overdo it though. I used one whole lemon and would probably lessen it next time by about a third. Pour the finished custard into a bowl and cover with cling wrap and allow to cool. 

Once it is cooled, spoon into the shells and then into a hot oven for 20-25 minutes. My first batch I baked at 400 C and didn't get the caramelized top that I wanted, so I put the second batch in at 425 C and they came out just right. Amazingly, they popped right out of the moulds.