Asian Style Tarts

Asian and Portuguese Egg Tarts (The dessert kind)

I grew up eating tons of egg tarts for breakfast and tea. They are sweet and popular pastries in my home town. Another popular version of this yummy pastry is the Portuguese Egg Tart. Both eggy tarts are good to make with your family.

My recipe from the classic Asian egg tarts is below. Click here for the Portuguese Egg Tarts. Enjoy!

I use 3-inch wide top and 1.75-inch wide bottom tart pans to make these desserts. I recommend using a scale to weigh each pastry dough ball.

Ingredients (Yields 22 pieces):

Crust: 2.25 cups flour, 1 tbs sugar, 2 egg yolks, 1 egg white, 2/3 cup cold butter (save the other egg white for the filling)

Filling: 4 eggs and 1 egg white, 1/2 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 cup warm water, 1 cup fresh milk, and a few dashes of vanilla extract

Procedures:

For the crust...

1. Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl. Beat the yolks and egg white. Blend the dry ingredients and eggs together

2. Cut the butter till small pieces. Mix into the flour mixture. Knead for a few minutes. Let the pastry dough rest in the fridge for at least 10 minutes

For the filling...

3. Dissolve sugar and salt in the warm water. Beat the eggs separately and stir in with the now room-temperature liquid

4. Sift through a fine mesh into another bowl. Stir in milk and vanilla. Keep it in the fridge

Onto the molding...

5. Separate and shape the cold dough to 25 grams dough balls. Keep half of them in the fridge. Flatten each ball between kitchen cling wraps. Then transfer the flattened round into the tart pan. Gently push the dough up the walls. Place the finished crust pans in the fridge to cool for at least 10 minutes

6. Preheat oven to 180 degC

7. Using a fork, pierce a few holes at the bottom of the crust pans. Fill the pans until 75% to 80% full with the eggy filling

8. Gently transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes

9. Remove from the oven to cool for a few minutes. The egg tarts will simply slide off the pans

10. Serve with your favorite beverage! Enjoy!

From my kitchen

From my parents' kitchen :)

Pineapple Tarts

Pineapple tarts are commonly found during Chinese New Year. They are popular in South East Asia and available in two styles: regular and Nyonya pineapple tarts.

My recipe below is a blend of numerous recipes from the Internet. Mine is influenced by the Nyonya style. I like my tarts to be buttery. This is my second attempt making these delicious morsels and I'm happy it worked out!

Ingredients (Yields 40 pieces):

Filling: 1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple in pineapple juice, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 1 star anise, 2 cloves. 1 tsp pandan essence (optional)

Crust: 2 cups flour, 0.5 tsp salt, 4 tbsp corn flour, 14 tbs butter- softened, 3 tbs confectioner's sugar and 2 egg yolk. 1 egg beaten for egg wash

Procedures:

For the filling

1. Drain juice from crushed pineapple using a sieve (save the juice for drinking!)

2. With microwave: Add pineapple, lemon juice, sugar and spices in a large bowl. Heat on HI for 10 mins in the microwave. Stir and heat for another 10 mins. Stir and repeat heating in 5 mins intervals until the mixture is slightly moist

OR

Over the stove top: In a medium saucepan, add pineapple, lemon juice, sugar and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then, reduce heat and let it simmer for 1 hr or until the mixture thickens but not dry while stirring occasionally

3. Remove cinnamon stick and cloves. Let the mixture cool overnight

For the crust

1. Sieve all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl

2. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well

3. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 mins

To make the tarts, I find the techniques in the video helps.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degF

2. Use 1/2 tsp pineapple mixture to shape 1-in length roll

3. Shape 1/2 tsp dough mixture to 2 inch length strip

4. Place a pineapple roll on the end of the dough strip and roll it. Continue until all tarts are made

5. Arrange tarts on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush egg wash on the tarts

6. Bake for 15 mins or until the tarts turn lightly golden in color

7. Let them cool before eating them. Enjoy!

Notes:

1. Make filling the day before

2. You can substitute canned pineapple with a fresh ripe pineapple. Just remove the core of the pineapple, crush it using a food processor and strain the juice. 1 medium Chiquita pineapple will yield approximately 60 pieces. Just increase the ingredients by 50%. Note that fresh pineapple can be sweeter so adjust sugar accordingly

3. You can keep the juice and reduce sugar. The only thing is it takes longer to cook it

4. Adjust sweetness by varying sugar amounts