Egg Tarts

My kids are one of those that loves egg tarts ......or should I say, any types of pastries J Before, I used to think that egg tarts is used to steam and not bake, how silly. Few months back, when I was searching for the shortcrust pastry recipes in the net, I found out that there are a few of them......3 of them in fact. The best thing is, with this shortcrust pastry, you can actually make a lot of other types of savoury tarts from it........for instance, fruit tartlets, custard tarts, blueberry tarts, almond tarts, quiche and of course, egg tarts and many more. I have tried "Sweet shortcrust pastry" before with Blueberry cheese filling and also the Fruit Tartlets, and the result..........excellent, I get very good comments and praises from those who ate it.

OK, what I found in the internet about this type of pastry is.......there are three types of it..... (1) Pate Brisee (2) Pate Sucree and (3) Pate Sablee :) all from France. So far, I have only tried "Pate Brisee" and will definitely make a day to try "Pate Sucree" as I have a Daring Bakers Challenge (for March) to make an "Orange Tian" that requires us to make a Pate Sucree.  I opted to skip this month's challenge because of the tight schedule I'm drowning in.......but will definitely make it one day when I'm free.....let's see when, ok? :P

Alright, I know I don't usually write a lot as I'm not a good writer and moreover, the purpose of this blog is to share the recipes that I have 'tried, tested and tasted' myself......so that my dear friends can have a piece of 'full-proof" recipe that will surely works. This 'Egg Tarts' recipe was from one of MiL's very old cookbook collection, SriRasa. I find that this recipe is quite easy to make, the only part that I find it a bit tough is when I use the round cookie cutter to cut out the shape, I couldn't quite lift the disk nicely, it'll break somewhere.......hmm, or maybe I rolled it out too thin (??) or maybe it's testing my patience....haha

So, this is the recipe, give it a try, because I think Egg Tarts are a favourites to the young and old ........Happy Egg Tart baking!

EGG TARTS
(Makes about 13-15 tarts)

For the Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

125 gm butter, cold and cut into cubes

60 gm castor sugar

250 gm plain flour

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 Tbsp water

For Egg filling

(A) 250 ml water and 125 gm sugar – boil to dissolve the sugar and let cool

(B) 5 eggs and 100ml evaporated milk – mix together

Method

To make the Sweet shortcrust pastry

1. Sift the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl.
   
2. Rub the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
   
3. Add in the egg yolk, essence and water.
   
4. Shape dough into a ball and refrigerate for about 1-2 hours before using.
   
5. Pre-heat oven to 180~C, take the dough out from the fridge and roll out the dough on lightly floured surface with a rolling pin.
6. 
   
   Use a round cookie cutter to cut out a disk shape and mould it into your greased tart pan.
   Tips: do not poke holes on the pastry with fork , this will enable the egg filling to sip out later when you bake. I learn my lesson on this one :(
   
   
7. Put some beans into the tart to weigh down the pastry when baking and bake at 180~C for 10 - 12 minutes. Let it cool slightly before putting in the egg filling.
   

To make the Egg Filling

1. Mix (A) and (B) together and train to remove any coarse materials and bubbles.
   
2. Pour the egg filling into the half baked tart shells.
   
3. Bake at 180~C for 20 minutes. Let cool on wire rack and slowly take out the egg tarts and ready to serve.
   

Happy Egg Tarts Baking!