My version of Portuguese Inspired Egg Tarts

[EvillyChic]

Hello every one,

Today, I want to share one of my favorite pastry recently: Portuguese Egg Tart.

I first knew about this tart from KFC. One time, I went to our favorite KFC spot in HCMC when they were promoting these. They asked if I wanted to try. It looked so irresistible, so why not? Since then, I have been in love with this pastry. But it’s so expensive buying them from the shops, comparing to its easy-to-find ingredients and easy-to-make nature; especially now I are studying in Finland. I decide to make them myself.

So here is how I make Portuguese Egg Tart. (12 mini tarts)

Ingredients

Tart crust

500g store-bought puff pastry

Filling

150g heavy whipping cream

200g whole milk

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

60g granulated white sugar

2 whole egg + 2 egg yolk

Instructions

Step 1: My puff pastry is already cut into rectangles like this, 125g per, so I use 4. Roll them in to tight cylinders. Stick layers of dough up at the end of the roll using a bit of water.

Step 2: Cut each cylinder into 3 smaller ones. 3 multiplies by 4 is 12, that’s how I divide mine. If yours comes in bigger or smaller size, divide them accordingly to have 12 even balls of puff pastry.

Step 3: Dip every ball into a dish of flour generously. Then roll them out into a thin round sheet with the cycle side facing up, like this.

Here is where my mistake happened. I should have roll these a bit thin toward the edge, leave the inner thicker because the filling will make the puff pastry crust wet while baking and make the tart more fragile that usual egg tart.

Step 4: Prepare your tart pans by grease the with melted butter, or put some cupcake paper cups in, like me. This is very important because if you don’t, the tart will stick heavily to your pan. Then adjust all the crust into your tart pan, in my case, cupcake pan.

Step 5: Preheat your oven to 200 degree Celsius. Prepare a rack on the last level.

Step 6: Separate your eggs. Put eggs and yolks into one bowl with all the sugar. Beat them lightly with your whisk until there is no string of egg white left.

Step 7: Add heavy whipping cream and milk into the egg mixture above, whisk until everything combined. Add the vanilla extract. And you are done.

Originally, the filling must be made by double boiling method, meaning the egg mixture must be cooked on a heatproof bowl that stay on top of a boiling pan, until it thicken up. Then let cool to room temperature for about almost 1 hour. I decide to go shortcut on this since Bear was OK with that the last time and I do not wish to prolong my baking time further. It totally depends on you to choice how you want to do in this situation.

Step 8: Pour the filling into the prepared tart pans, through a strainer.

Step 8: Put the tarts into the preheated oven, last rack.

Step 9: Bake them for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top of the custard caramelize a bit. During the baking time, I see my tart fillings popping up like balloons.

I just did a little sneak and my egg custard like of crack on the surface.

Step 10: Take the tarts out of the pan. You can enjoy them now, as they are warm, some forks prefer that. Personally, I enjoy them cool, because by then, the crust will be settled and less fragile, and the filling is more enjoyable. If you prefer mine, put them in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Eating these tarts are like having a Fandango dance on your tongue. The buttery flavor of puff pastry combines with the soft, rich custard. Uhhmm. My limited vocabulary cannot fully explain this.

Hope you enjoy the recipe. I have some problems this time, for instant, my filling pop like balloons while being baked. Then it cracked on the surface, and my crust seem a bit too fragile after being bake.

Here is its innards

.

How could I avoid these problems? Thank you so much in advance.

Anyhow, Happy Baking!

Rose,