Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Egg Tarts!!

Due to popular demand, I've decided to share this out here! These babies are sooo easy to make and are always a great treat especially for those who are not really a fan of sweets. These will please anyone, no kidding :) Used to sell them at fundraisers for NZD1 per piece and they go like hot cakes! But I think it's best eaten right away when it's fresh from the oven and not kept too long otherwise they go limp and loose that crispy flaky texture of the pastry, which is a downer! But u can definitely make the filling in advance and only thaw the amount of pastry you'd like to use. Then store the remaining filling for next time. I've done that and works better especially if you plan to feed only a few people and not a crowd. So here's the recipe:

Ingredients: (makes 45pieces of tarts)

-1 pack of flaky puff pastry (I use Pampas, can be found in premium stores like Cold Storage, Jaya Grocer,etc). Back in NZ, there were 5 sheets per pack so it fits nicely as 1 sheet makes 9 tarts. Pampas has 6sheets, so u have an extra 1 sheet. But that doesn't really matter as there are always other uses for them!)
-2 cups milk

-1 1/4 cup sugar
-5 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1) Thaw the flaky puff pastry in advance.
2) In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
3) Beat 5 eggs in a bowl, whisk in vanilla essence. Then add in the slightly cool milk mixture. Strain to get a smooth mixture.
4) Return to the puff pastry. For each sheet, make a 3x3 cut so you get 9 small squares. In each square, make a 1cm cut from the sharp corner in. You will get a 'penguin tail' at each corner which you will then cross one flap over the other. Do the same for each corner of the small square to get a tart case/cup. 
5) Insert the pastries into a cupcake casing and pour the mixture in. Don't pour until full otherwise it will go over while cooking. (see picture below)


Here's what they're supposed to look like before baking!

6) Bake at 190C in a preheated oven for 20minutes or until the egg mixture rises nicely and the flaky pastry is cooked and turns a nice crisp brown colour.

Good luck trying and do share with me the results ya! Would love to see how they turn out :)