Shortcrust Egg Tarts

I enjoy watching TV programmes on cooking demonstrations since young. I never fail to dream about owning all those fanciful kitchen tools and baking essentials whenever I see them at the departmental store. Even till now, I felt I can never have enough of them though I have most of the (basic) required baking tools. I can't recall when and what I first baked, but I do have one clear memory and that was (together with my sister) helping my Mummy when she was making fruit egg tarts. I somehow recollected we tasted and disliked the custard filling in usual fruit tarts (which were not

as tasty as these days) and my Mummy had made her own version of fruit tarts by baking her usual homemade egg tarts and topping them with our favourite fruits. I remembered her version as the only and tastiest fruit egg tarts I've ever had. To date I don't think I have seen anywhere selling fruit tarts with egg tart as the base. In my later years when I learnt about blogging, I remember the very first food blog I stumbled upon was the blog of Wokking Mum (although I cannot remember how I discovered the blog). I even kept a file of the recipes I'd printed from the blog which I was interested and thought of making someday, recognising my lack of trust in online information  because I feel that the website might just collapse or become unavailable. Haha! The file "grew" eventually with lots of other recipes I'd collected from web sources and cut-outs from magazines. I decided to try my hands on these egg tarts when I was sorting out my recipe file and found that the required ingredients are readily available in my pantry. The only essential which I lacked was the egg tart moulds with the flower ridges. That's when I thought I could use the muffin pan instead. Although I did not top these egg tarts with fruits, they were good enough to reminisce the memories of baking with my Mummy and sister during my childhood days. ^_^ Does homemade egg tarts bring back fond memories of yours too? Try out this recipe someday!

I am re-sharing this post for the event, AphaBakes (May 2014: Letter "E") hosted by Ros of The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline of Caroline Makes. The letter "E" represents the star ingredients, Eggs!

Shortcrust Egg Tarts
Recipe referenced and modified from: Wokking Mum

Ingredients Required
makes about 21 pieces

Shortcrust
340 grams all-purpose flour
230 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
70 grams castor sugar (Updated on 15 Oct 15: - Reduced to 50 grams castor sugar)
1/2 beaten egg

Egg Custard
3 whole eggs, beaten + 1/2 beaten egg (from shortcrust)
80 grams castor sugar (Updated on 15 Oct 15: - Reduced to 60 grams castor sugar)
150 ml milk
100 ml water

Bakeware Used

Two standard 12-cup muffin pans

Preparation Steps

Shortcrust

1. Cream butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until creamy and all sugar have dissolved.
2. Add half beaten egg and whisk till evenly combined.
3. Fold flour into mixture to combine and form a dough.
4. Wrap dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for half hour.
5. Remove dough from fridge and divide into 35 grams each. Flatten dough into circle and press into each muffin mould to even thickness.
6. Fill moulded crust with egg custard filling to about 4/5 full. Gently and carefully run a toothpick around the egg filling to rid any bubbles so that the baked egg custard will have a smooth finish. Be careful not to prick the crust.
7. Bake at preheated oven at 355 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until crust is slightly brown and egg custard is set. [Updated on 15 Oct 15: - Used my new Rowenta OC7868 Oven, preheated and baked at (1) 160 degrees C for 35 minutes and (2) 180 degrees C for 10 minutes then lowered to 165 degrees C for 15 minutes.]
8. Once egg tarts are baked, remove from oven and un-mould by using a butter knife to lift the egg tart from the edge of the muffin mould.
9. Place egg tarts on wire rack to cool slightly and serve warm. Refrigerate any leftovers overnight.

Egg Custard

1. Whisk eggs and sugar together until mixture is thick and all sugar have dissolved.
2. Add milk and water and whisk until well combined.
3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps and eliminate bubbles (so that the egg custard filling will have a smooth surface after baked).
4. Gently stir to mix evenly (to prevent bubbles forming) before filling into moulded crust.

The Dream Baker's Experiment

1. For the shortcrust, the source recipe called for Top flour, which I understand is an extra-fine quality flour that produces exceptionally smooth and fine texture of bakes. I tried and used all-purpose flour and cake flour in substitution and they both produce equally yummy tart crust (however I have not tried one using Top flour). Hence, I recommended all-purpose flour in my recipe since it is cheaper than cake flour and the results were not noticeably different.
2. For the egg custard filling, the source recipe called for 70 ml milk and 230 ml water which I find too diluted and less rich-tasting. Also, I added the 1/2 beaten egg from the shortcrust to the egg custard filling (which the source recipe did not specify) simply not waste to it.
3. The half beaten egg I used for the shortcrust weighed approximately 30 grams in content.
4. The dough for the shortcrust weighed approximately 642 grams and I divided the remaining dough into the remaining batch of tart crust to make a total of 21 egg tarts.
5. The total weight of the eggs used for the egg custard filling was approximately 200 grams in content.
6. The egg custard mixture yielded approximately 515 ml. I used a 1/4-cup measuring cup full to fill two tart crusts with a little excess left. The egg custard mixture were used up and evenly distributed amongst all the egg tarts.
7. I placed the muffin pan one rack above the bottommost rack of the oven. This prevents the top of the crust and the egg custard from browning too quickly before the egg tarts are baked through.
8. I tested the doneness of the egg custard by very slightly and gently shaking the muffin pan in the oven. The egg tarts are ready when the egg custard wobble just slightly. The egg custard will continue to cook and set after it has been removed from the oven. Over-baking will cause the egg custard to crack. Unlike testing if a cake has been baked through using a toothpick, you would not want to poke and leave a hole in the egg custard.

Dare to dream.

The Dream Baker