Egg Tarts ~ Malaysian Monday no. 15

There are two popular outlets for Egg Tarts in Ipoh, one is  Hong Kee confectionary @ Kedai Kopi Weng Seng in new town and the other is Choy Kee @ Simee wet market.  Hop over to their sites to see what else they have to offer.
Now, coming back to my post.  My first attempt at making puff pastry egg tarts was a failure, the pastry turned out hard!   So I flipped through my old recipe books and came across a 'Pate Sucree' foundation recipe for pastries which looked easy enough to experiment with.  The result was satisfactory and even though it's not puff pastry, it did go down well with the egg custard, well at least the guinea pig remarked that this time around, the tarts do have some 'standard'!  That's a consolation!
I followed 'Frozen Wings' egg custard recipe but tweaked it slightly.  Also, I adhered to Christine's instructions on baking the tarts and indeed her tips were good and very useful.  A big thank you to both of you!

I opened the oven door slightly, about 2 to 3 inches when I saw that the custard was starting to puff out.

After baking for the last 5 mins. with the oven door ajar, I tested with a toothpick.  Once it can stand on its own, it means that the custard is set and done.

This will certainly pair well with a hot cup of tea or coffee, sit back, relax and enjoy!


Ingredients for Filling

• 100 ml water
• 75 gm sugar
• 2.1/2 eggs
• 125 ml milk (I used sugarless soymilk)
• A knob of ginger with skin, smashed
• 3 pandan/srewpine leaves tied into a knot
• A few drops of vanilla essence (optional)

Method

1. In a saucepan, add in the water, sugar, ginger, pandan leaves and on low heat, stir till sugar dissolves.  Let cool.  Discard the ginger and pandan leaves.
2. Beat eggs with the soymilk and add into the cooled syrup.  Do not whisk till frothy.  Stir and mix well.
3. Strain and pour the custard mixture into a jug.  Set aside ready for use.

Ingredients for Pastry  (Makes 11 egg tarts)

• 6 oz plain flour
• 1.1/2 oz icing sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 oz butter/margarine
• Pinch of salt
• A few drops vanilla essence

Method

1. Sieve the flour with the salt into a mixing bowl, mix well.  Make a well in the centre and in this place the sugar, butter and egg yolks.  Using the finger tips, work these ingredients together until well blended.  Then, draw in the flour and knead lightly until smooth.  Cover and let dough rest for about 30 mins.
2. Weigh out about 30 to 33 gm of dough, round up and press into the lightly greased tart moulds.  Cut off any excess dough.
3. Pour the custard mixture about 3/4 full  into the tart moulds.
4. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C on the lower shelf of the oven, for about 25 mins.  If the custard puffs out, pull open the oven door about 2 to 3 inches.  This happens after about 20 mins.
5. Test with toothpick and if it stands on its own, then the custard is set.
6. Remove from oven and let cool in the moulds for about 10 mins.
7. Dislodge from moulds and let cool on wire rack.
8. Serve.

Note :   Remove any bubbles from the egg mixture, otherwise they'll become brown spots. 
             I steam the balance of egg custard and the 'Ton Kai Tan' was swell!

To make use of all the custard filling, increase the pastry recipe to the following :-
8 oz plain flour, 2 oz icing sugar, 4 egg yolks, 4 oz butter, salt and vanilla.  This will yield 13 tarts.

Other Egg Tart recipes.

Egg Tarts  from  Frozen Wings
Cantonese Egg Tarts Recipe  from  Christine's recipes
Old time Egg Tarts  from  My Little Space