Hong Kong Egg Tarts Recipes

Steps:

• For the pastry, in a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, and salt. Then add softened butter. Bring the mixture together with your hands, careful not to knead the pastry dough too much or you will make the pastry tough.
• Whisk the egg yolks and add the 2 tablespoons of beaten yolk to the flour mixture. Bring together until smooth. If the dough is too sticky, coating your hands with flour will help. Cover with plastic wrap and then refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until the dough is firm.
• To make the custard filling, melt sugar and salt with hot water. Mix until dissolved then let cool.
• Add the rest of the beaten egg yolk. Stir in sugar water and also evaporated milk (if adding vanilla, add now). Stir and combine everything well.
• Strain the filling to ensure no lumps. Chill in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 400˚F (200˚C.)
• Take the dough out and divide into 16 equal portions. Spray the tart pan with a light coating of oil. Take one portion of your dough and roll it into a ball and place in your tart shell. Press the shell into the pan with your fingers. Try to make the wrapper uniform in thickness and avoid a thick bottom. Repeat to finish all.
• Pour the custard filling into the shells until it is about 80% full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the surface becomes golden brown and a toothpick can stand in the egg tart.
• Cool down for several minutes and then take the egg tarts out of the pan. Serve while still warm.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork until it is in small crumbs. Stir in the egg and vanilla until the mixture forms a dough. The texture should be slightly moist. Add more butter if it is too dry, or more flour, if the dough seems greasy. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and press the balls into small tart molds so that it covers the bottom, and goes up just above the rim. Use 3 fingers to crimp the edges.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Combine the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain the eggs through a sieve, and whisk into the sugar mixture. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla. Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown and the filling is puffed up a little bit.

Steps:

• For the butter dough: Put the flour and butter in a food processor and process to a thick, smooth paste, about 2 minutes. Transfer the dough to plastic wrap using a metal spoon and shape into a 5-inch square. Chill in the refrigerator until needed.
• For the water dough: Put the flour, sugar, salt and 3 tablespoons of the beaten egg in the same food processor (reserve the remaining beaten egg for the egg filling). Pulse a few times to combine. Stream in the cold water while pulsing until a ball forms that is shaggy and not sticky, about 2 minutes. Wrap the dough into a rough square with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes.
• For the egg filling: While the doughs are resting, put the milk and sugar in a small pot and heat over high heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Let cool completely, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk together the eggs and reserved beaten egg in a large bowl until no visible egg whites remain, about 1 minute. Whisk in the evaporated milk, vanilla extract and cooled milk mixture. Strain the filling through a fine-mesh sieve twice into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup with a spout. Skim off any foam on the surface of the egg filling. Wrap the measuring cup with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until needed.
• Prepare the pastry: Roll the water dough on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin to a 10-inch square. Position the butter dough in the center of the water dough in the shape of a diamond. Wrap the outer dough around the butter layer and seal in the edges; make sure to brush away excess flour with a pastry brush. Roll the dough out to a 6-by-12-inch rectangle. Fold both short sides toward the center and then fold in half like closing a book. Wrap in plastic and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes.
• Roll out the dough to a 6-by-12-inch rectangle with the smooth side of the dough to the left side. Fold both short sides toward the center and then fold in half like closing a book. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes. Repeat this process of folding and resting one more time.
• After the final 20-minute rest, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to an 11-by-14-inch rectangle, slightly thinner than 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out 12 rounds of dough using a 3 1/4-inch round cutter. Stack the rounds with plastic wrap between each layer and chill in the freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Center one dough round onto each of twelve 3-inch egg tart molds and press the dough up the edges of each mold from the bottom to the top, thinning out the bottom. Put the egg tart molds on the prepared baking sheet. Dock the bottom of each dough round 3 times using the tines of a fork. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Carefully pour the egg filling into the 12 tart shells (about 1 1/2 tablespoons in each; there should be about 1/4 inch of space between the egg filling and top edges of the crust). Bake the egg tarts until the crusts are starting to brown around the edges, 20 to 22 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until the crusts are light golden brown and the fillings have puffed slightly, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool in the oven with the door ajar until the egg filling gently settles back down, about 5 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Remove the egg tarts from the molds and enjoy slightly warm or completely cooled.

Steps:

• For the tart crust: Combine the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the butter and coconut oil and rub between your fingers until nickel-size flakes of fat are evenly dispersed into the flour. Add the cold water and gently mix into a shaggy mass. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap, press together into a disc, wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Spray a muffin tin with 2 1/2-inch-diameter cavities with cooking spray. On a lightly floured countertop, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut rounds with a 3 1/2-inch cutter or bowl. Press the rounds into the greased muffin tin and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• For the filling: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• While the crust is chilling, bring the sugar, salt and 1/3 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Let cool to warmish. In a measuring cup (or something with a spout), beat together the whole eggs and yolk. Add the warm sugar syrup and whisk to combine. Add the cream and almond extract and whisk to combine. Strain the filling through a mesh sieve.
• Pour the filling into the prepared shells (they should be about 85% filled). Bake until the filling has puffed up and set and the crust is golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from the muffin tin and eating. The egg puff will fall, but it's ok. These will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Steps:

• For the oil dough, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Place the mixture between 2 sheets of non-stick parchment paper and roll out until ¾-inch in thickness, ideally into a rectangular shape.
• For the water dough, place all the ingredients in an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix to form a dough, adding some water-up to 2 cups-in order to bind the ingredients together if necessary.
• Knead in the mixer for 10 minutes until the dough is super stretchy. You should be able to stretch the dough out between your hands to form an ultra-thin film without it breaking. Check the elasticity of the water dough by pulling it between your fingers. You should be able to stretch it into a super-thin, translucent film.
• Pack the water dough and the oil dough into separate large baking pans lined with non-stick parchment paper. Freeze for 3 hours to firm up.
• Remove the 2 doughs from the freezer and let soften slightly (but not for too long, otherwise they will be difficult to handle and require further time in the freezer to firm up again). Place the water dough on a sheet of non-stick parchment paper and, using a rolling pin, lightly roll the water dough out into a rectangle ½-inch thick. Place the oil dough on top, ensuring that there is at least a ¾-inch border of water dough all around the edge of the oil dough.
• Place a sheet of non-stick parchment paper on top of this double layer of dough and lightly roll it out to a rectangle about ½-inch thick.
• Remove the top sheet of paper, rotate the dough rectangle so that one long edge is facing you, and mark an imaginary line down the center of the dough.
• Lifting the dough by placing your hand underneath the bottom layer of paper, fold each side of the dough in to meet this imaginary line. Seal the edges.
• Fold the 2 halves over each other to form 4 layers of dough. Rotate the dough 90 degrees clockwise and lightly dust with flour. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up slightly.
• Remove the dough from the freezer and mark into thirds. Fold one third at one end of the dough over the middle, then fold the other third over the top. Return the dough to the freezer for a further 15 minutes.
• For the filling, place the beaten eggs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the sugar and custard powder into the water until the sugar has dissolved.
• Pour the sugar mixture into the eggs and stir with a spoon, then stir in the evaporated milk.
• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps and then gently skim the surface with a spoon to remove any floating bubbles.
• To finish the egg tarts, preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out until ⅛-inch thick. Using a round pastry cutter, cut out 30 circles that are ½-inch larger than your fluted tart molds.
• Lightly oil a tart mold, then place a pastry circle in the center. Gently push the dough out from the center to the edges, ensuring that you don't rip it. Repeat the process for all your tart molds.
• Return the tart crusts to the freezer for a final 15 minutes before filling and baking.
• Stand the tart molds on a baking pan and fill the tart crusts 70 percent full with the custard mixture.
• Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 320°F, and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the custard is just set but still retains a slight wobble.
• Turn the oven off and leave the tarts inside for 1 minute.
• Remove from the oven and let stand until warm before eating.