September 3, 2023
Happy summer! It has been a while since I last posted. I’ve been spending all of my time outside of work planning fun family activities to keep Z occupied throughout the summer. She has reached the stage where she has tons of energy and needs to expend the energy daily. We’ve had a couple of beach days, seen some family-friendly shows, strolled through historic homes in New England, visited museums throughout Massachusetts, and even had our first semi-long family road trip to Bar Harbor. Here are some photos from our adventures throughout the summer thus far:
When we aren’t out and about as a family, I’ve been testing out new recipes and refining upcoming recipes to share on my site.
Here I am developing and testing out another recipe to be shared on my site in the very near future.
One recipe I have been working on and am finally ready to share is my take on Portuguese-style egg tarts, inspired by the famous egg tarts sold throughout Macau and Hong Kong. These egg tarts are also a favorite dim sum dish of ours. Dim sum is a dining ritual we’ve had in our family since childhood. I still remember fondly all the moments during my childhood where I would go to dim sum with my family and order all my favorite dishes. I would always go for the shrimp dishes (usually har cheung or har gow) and finish with a sweet treat during dim sum. The sweet treat of choice ranged from ma lai go to sesame ball with red bean paste to egg tarts. Egg tarts are truly amazing when enjoyed straight out of the oven. As much as I love the traditional egg tarts, I also love the Portuguese-style egg tarts. Portuguese-style egg tarts differ from traditional egg tarts in some fundamental ways. Portuguese-style egg tarts tend to have a puff pastry crust and an egg custard made with egg yolks baked at a high temperature to yield toasty brown spots. I love eating these egg tarts whenever I’m in Hong Kong or Macau. They’re one of my favorite dim sum treats to enjoy toward the end of the meal when I want something sweet to balance out the savory dim sum dishes. During the first few years when Kev and I dated, we vacationed in Macau and had the opportunity to enjoy freshly baked Portuguese-style egg tarts. The experience of biting into a piping hot egg tart straight out of the oven is a truly decadent experience. For a moment, all the world seems to fade away as I bite into the buttery, flaky crust before my teeth sinks into the silky, smooth egg custard filling. I would describe the Portuguese-style egg tart as a fun cousin to the traditional egg tart. With my parents staying with us in Massachusetts for the time being, we’ve jump started our dim sum ritual once again. Every other weekend, we would head over to Ming’s Seafood Restaurant in Malden to get our fix of dim sum. My mom’s go-to dim sum dishes are always beef tripe and chicken feet. My dad opts for the lo mai gai (glutinous rice and filling wrapped in lotus leaves) and sesame ball filled with red bean paste. Although Kev usually goes for xiao long bao, he hasn’t found a worthy substitute near us. So, he just eats whatever we order for the table. I go with my usual har cheung and har gow and occasional egg tart. Since I started making egg tarts at home myself, we’ve been ordering egg tarts a lot less frequently during dim sum. Egg tarts are composed of two parts – the flaky shell or crust and the egg custard filling. For the shell or crust, I like to make a more decadent version of my shortcrust pastry dough, essentially the dough I use for all my pies. Egg tarts also require special tart tins, so I ordered a set just to make them. It’s worth it to order a set of these tins if you make tarts a lot like we do in our home. Whenever I crave egg tarts, I just whip up the shortcrust dough in my food processor and shape the dough right away in the mini tart baking tins. I then transfer the tins to the refrigerator to let the dough chill in the tins for about twenty minutes. As the dough is chilling in the refrigerator, I move onto making the egg custard filling, which is composed of just four ingredients – egg yolks, granulated sugar, whole milk, and heavy cream. A fifth, but totally optional ingredient is vanilla bean paste, which I sometimes add to the egg tarts to give them another fragrant flavor. I whisk these ingredients together thoroughly and then strain them through a sieve a couple times to remove air bubbles. Straining the egg custard filling helps ensure a smoother egg custard filling in the egg tarts. I pour the prepared filling into the shortcrust dough filled tins and bake the tarts in the oven for 20-23 minutes at 425°F. Once the egg tarts have baked for twenty minutes, I check on them and see if they need a smidge more baking time. I always check for brown spots on the egg tarts as a sign that the egg tarts are well on their way to being done. The egg tarts do need to cool for a bit straight out of the oven before enjoying. Otherwise, you will end up with a burned mouth. For a coconut twist on the egg tarts, I folded in a half cup of coconut flakes into half of the shortcrust dough before filling the tins with the dough. These egg tarts with a twist are perfect for a weekend brunch, afternoon tea, or dim sum at home. My parents, who are usually traditionalists when it comes to dim sum dishes, voiced how much they liked the coconut twist on egg tarts. We even packed leftover egg tarts to enjoy during our family trip to the beach.
Egg Tarts with A Twist:
(makes 14 egg tarts)
For the egg tart shell or crust:
· 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
· ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed
· ¼ cup cold water
· ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)
For the egg custard filling:
· 5 large egg yolks
· ⅓ cup granulated sugar
· ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
· ¾ cups heavy cream
· ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (optional)
Special equipment:
· egg tart tins (3 inch in width for opening, 1.65 inch in width for base, 0.9 inch in height)
Directions:
1) In a food processor, pulse together the all-purpose flour, kosher salt, and granulated sugar for 5 seconds. Add in the cubed unsalted butter and process until coarse crumbs form, about 8 seconds. Slowly stream in the cold water and pulse until a dough begins to form, about another 8 seconds. If adding coconut flakes to half of the dough like I did, remove half of the dough before tossing in the coconut flakes and pulsing for another 5 seconds.
2) On a large baking sheet, arrange 12 tart baking tins evenly spaced apart. Arrange the remaining 2 tart tins on a separate baking sheet. Use your hands to roll out ½ inch balls of the dough and press the dough into the tart tins. Repeat until all the dough has been pressed into the tart tins. Transfer the baking sheet with the dough-filled tart tins into the refrigerator and let the shaped dough chill for twenty minutes.
3) While the dough-filled tart tins are chilling in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 425°F.
4) In a large bowl, prepare the egg custard filling by whisking together the egg yolks, sugar, whole milk, and heavy cream. Add in the vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract if desired. Whisk until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture through a sieve to strain out any bubbles. Use a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop 2-3 tablespoons of the egg custard filling into the tart tins.
5) Gently transfer the baking sheet with the prepared tart tins into the oven and bake at 425°F for 20-23 minutes. Let the egg tarts cool for 5 minutes before enjoying.
Takeaways: Although optional, whisking in the vanilla bean paste does add a fragrant scent to the egg tarts. I found baking these egg tarts between 20-23 minutes to be the ideal baking time to yield egg tarts with a flaky crust and perfect egg custard filling. These egg tarts are best enjoyed straight out of the oven (after the 5-minute rest time to prevent accidental burning). They also make for the perfect picnic food. I like to pack these egg tarts up in a glass container and bring them to the beach for a snack.