Another Fail Proof Custard Egg Tart Recipe with Biscuit-y Crust

About 2 years ago...

I had this crazy egg tarts baking experience and eventually discovered a fail proof egg tart recipe made with a buttery unshrinkable crust.

One of my baking-and-blogging friends, Amy from Amy Baking Diary saw my fail proof recipe and tried baking these egg tarts BUT...

At around March 2014:
I texted: "Hi Amy! How are your egg tarts?
She texted: "No good. Simply can't remove them. So ate them from the mould... Wondering how come like that..."
I texted: "... Did you chill and flour your dough slightly before rolling?"
She texted: "Oh ya... I missed out the chilling part! I pinched the dough and pressed onto the mould directly."

Knowing that Amy prefer to press the egg tart pastry onto the mould without going through the hassles of rolling, cutting and chilling the pastry, I told her to try another easy and popular recipe which uses the same method of pressing the pastry onto the mould at Cook.Bake.Love. I have tried baking with this recipe before using the rubbing-in and rolling method but it didn't work for me and I wonder why???

Late 2015, I saw THIS fabulous egg tart recipe at Amy's blog.

She said that it is an easy recipe as the pastry requires NO rolling NO cutting and NO chilling! Just like what she prefers to do... Press the pastry onto the mould and it works perfectly!

Comparing both recipes, I notice that Amy's recipe is slightly different from my previous fail proof egg tart recipe at here. Her recipe uses whole egg to make a firmer pastry crust that is also rather biscuit-y than buttery and crumbly. For the custard egg filling, Amy's recipe contains a lot less sugar but an additional amount of evaporated milk. Interestingly, these differences made her egg filling firmer!

Despite the differences, I must acknowledge that Amy's recipe is so much easier and more fail proof than what I discovered earlier! Try this recipe and you will see what I mean.

Another Fail Proof Custard Egg Tart Recipe

Most egg tart pastry recipes that I have seen and tried before use cold butter and rubbing method but this uses softened butter and creaming method!

Wrap dough in cling wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for 15 mins.
Although this resting step is essential, it is important not to chill the dough for too long as it need to be pretty pliable for shaping. 

While the dough is resting, I made the egg tart filling and did these.
Make sure that the sugar mixture is cooled enough (to touch) before mixing it with the egg mixture.
You don't want to cook any scrambled eggs!!!

Pour the combined egg mixture through a sieve into a jug or container that has a sprout.
And discard the mixture that is trapped in the sieve.

Next, divide dough into portions and press them onto the baking cups.

Pour egg filling into each tart until it is 90% filled.
Yeah! No joke... 90% filled!!! See!!! Mine are all 100% successful!

To gauge if the custard is fully cooked and set, you can use a toothpick to test if it stands or not.
So... This is cooked.

Removing the tarts from the baking cups is easy!!!
I can imagine... Poor Amy! How can she eat the tarts from the mould? :p

Tea time now...

Noticed that this filling is firmer than the egg tarts that I have made before?
The egg filling will shrink a little when the tarts are cooled...
Hence, I would highly recommend these egg tarts to be consumed immediately when they are freshly baked.

100% successful but not totally... Using this egg filling recipe and also a higher oven temperature to bake, I noticed that these egg tart can become wrinkly while they were cooling to room temperature. And when they were completely cooled to room temperature, they become less wrinkly with their surfaces stretch to become concave. Interesting!

For this reason, I would strongly recommend consuming these tarts as soon as you can and also on the same day of bake. On the next day, the biscuit-y crust became soft and the tarts won't be not as nice like they were freshly. Unlike the egg tarts with buttery crust, re-heating these tarts wouldn't revive them.

Here's the recipe that is mostly adapted from Amy's Baking Diary

Makes about nine 7 cm tarts or fifteen mini 5 cm (2.5 cm height x 2.5 cm diameter bottom) tarts

For the pastry:
60g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
20g caster sugar
25g whole egg (about 1/2 an egg), roughly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/4 tsp paste
110g all purpose / plain flour

For the filling:
75ml boiling hot water
15g caster sugar
1 egg (50g without the shell)
35ml evaporated milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200°C

For the pastry:
Using an electric mixer with paddle attachment or a wooden spoon, beat butter and sugar until combined and smooth. While beating, add egg gradually and then vanilla. Continue to beat until well combined.

Sift flour into the butter mixture and use a spatula or spoon to fold until the flour is well incorporated.

Transfer the dough onto a piece of cling wrap. Wrap the dough and allow it to rest in the fridge for about 15 mins. This resting step is essential but do not chill the dough for too long as it need to be pretty pliable.

While resting the dough, prepare the filling.

For the filling:
Place hot water in a medium bowl. Add sugar into hot water, mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to allow mixture to cool until it is cooled enough to touch.

In another separate large mixing bowl, combine egg and evaporator milk and use a hand whisk to whisk until combined. Whisk the sugar mixture into egg mixture and continue to whisk until the mixture is well combined. Pour the egg mixture through a sieve into a jug or any container that has a sprout and discard the egg mixture that is trapped in the sieve.

To assemble:
Remove dough from the fridge and divide the dough into portions.

Press the dough into each baking cups. Carefully pour fillings into each tart shell until it is 90% filled. Bake for 7 mins at 200°C. Then reduce the temperature to 170°C and bake for another 10-15 mins or until the egg filing is set. Please do not over-bake tarts as over-baking will ruin the smooth, glossy looks and velvety textures.

Remove the tart from the oven and allow them to cool slightly before removing them from the tart pans. Enjoy immediately when the tarts are warm. Best to consume all the tarts on the day of bake. Do not keep the tarts for the next day as the crust will be soft and re-heating wouldn't revive them.

Happy Baking

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