Chinese Egg Tarts

Don't you just love going to the Chinese Dim Sum restaurants and picking out your favourite dim sum? If so, you are probably be familiar with one of the perennial favourites - the egg tarts. And you can imagine how much more scrumtious egg tarts fresh out of the oven is compared to the cooled ones typically found in the restaurants! So here's the recipe which will enable you to enjoy these delightful tarts at home. Enjoy! :)

Chinese Egg Tarts
Makes 15 tarts

Ingredients for the egg custard:

• 3 eggs, whisked
• 75g castor sugar
• 225ml hot water
• 100ml evaporated milk
• 1/2t vanilla essence

Method for the egg custard:

1. Melt the sugar in the hot water.
2. Add the evaporated milk to the whisked eggs and mix well.
3. Add the sugared water to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
4. Strain the egg mixture into a pot to remove foam and clumpy egg mixtures.
5. Set aside.
   

Ingredients for the crust

• 225g plain flour
• 125g butter, room temperature
  
• 20g icing sugar
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1t vanilla essence

Method for the crust and to make the tarts:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
2. Add in the whisked egg slowly. Mix well and add in the vanilla essence.
3. Sift in the flour into the butter/egg mixture, and ensure that all ingredients combine well.
4. Knead into dough.
5. Pre-heat oven at 180C.
   
6. You can roll the dough into a log and cut into pieces which is subsequently flattened, or take a lump of dough and flatten with your palm (I did this). Line this flattened piece of dough into tart tin and press edges to the wall of the tin. This is to create a hollow with hold the egg custard. Repeat with the remaining dough.
   
7. Pour the egg custard into the tart shells (this can be done as each shell is made to prevent the dough from drying out).
8. Insert the baking tray into the oven and bake for approximately 25mins.
9. Cool egg tarts on a wire rack and enjoy! :)

Tip: Do NOT let the custard puff up too much while being cooked in the oven else it'll sink when cooled. Check after 20mins. If the custard is starting to puff up, pull open the oven door by 1-2 inches and continue baking till the tarts are cooked. The custard will still have some jiggle when done.