Egg custard tarts

I’ve tried several recipes for the egg tarts because there are two variations that I’m familiar with: the Chinese egg tarts and the Portuguese ones (like the yummy, flaky pastry ones that you get from Nando’s). I’ve had them from a bakery from Chinatown, and I’ve seen Ching He Huang make the tarts on telly. Ching made it look so simple so I thought I’d try it. The egg tarts are a reminder of the egg pie slices that I used to eat in the Philippines. They are SO simple to do (and believe me, when I say simple, I MEAN SIMPLE! :))…well, maybe if you make the puff pastry yourself, it may get slightly more complicated. But making it with store-bought pastry is an excellent shortcut!

There’s something to be said about truly following a recipe to the letter. I usually do that the first few times that I cook something I haven’t learned from my mother. But for some reason, I seemed to have thought that I could wing this particular recipe. I couldn’t, it had to be said. But finally, tonight, because there was puff pastry in the fridge and I had eggs that needed using. I really planned to make the tarts on the weekend but things got on top of me (really bad time management, but then again, weekends are for taking things more slowly, aren’t they?).

The tarts aren’t food magazine pretty (YET! I shall keep practicing until I get them right!)—my excuse was that the fan oven had a really overactive fan—but they sure tasted good! 🙂

So, here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons caster sugar
350ml evaporated milk
375g ready rolled puff pastry

Directions:

Heat oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry sheets and cut out 12 circles and line the muffin pan with the pastry circles. Set aside, preferrably in a cool place.
Beat eggs and add sugar. Add milk and beat lightly until smooth. Pour the filling into the pastry-lined muffin pan, leaving about 1/4 inch at the top.
Bake the tarts for 5 minutes at 200°C and then reduce heat to 170°C for another 10 minutes. Switch off the oven and allow the tarts to stay in the oven for another 10 minutes, so that they cook in the residual heat.
Take them out from the oven and allow to cool on a rack. You can ease the tarts out with a spatula and ENJOY! 🙂