The egg tart or egg custard tart (commonly romanized as dan tat) may be a quite custard tart pastry commonly found in Hong Kong and alternative Asian countries, that consists of an outer pastry crust that's filled with egg custard and baked.
Custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong within the Nineteen Forties by cha chaan tengs. They were then introduced in western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim total restaurants, particularly for yum cha. during the economic boom of the Fifties and Sixties, Lu Yu Teahouse took the lead with the mini-egg tart. Ironically, mini egg tarts are currently a standard dim total dish and are richer than those served in bakeries.
One theory suggests Hong Kong egg tarts are an adaptation of English custard tarts. Guangdong had a lot of frequent contact with the West, specifically Britain, than the rest of China. As a former British colony, Hong Kong adopted some British cuisine. Another theory suggests that egg tarts evolved from the very similar Portuguese egg tart pastries, called pastel de nata, traveling to Hong Kong via the Portuguese colony of Macau.Hong Kong cuisine
Today, egg tarts come in many variations among Hong Kong cuisine, together with egg white, milk , honey-egg, ginger-flavoured egg, that are variations of a conventional milk custard and egg custard served in cha chaan tengs), and additionally chocolate tarts, green-tea-flavoured tarts, and even bird's nest tarts.
Overall, Hong Kong egg tarts have 2 main kinds of crusts: shortcrust pastry and puff pastry, historically made with lard instead of butter or shortening. Most Hong Kong Chinese food purists hold the egg tarts made with puff pastry in higher regard.
Unlike English custard tarts, milk is often not added to the egg custard, and therefore the tart is not sprinkled with ground nutmeg or cinnamon before serving. it is additionally served piping hot instead of at area temperature like English custard tarts.
RECIPE:
Ingredients:
225 gm plain flour
125 gm butter
55 gm icing sugar
1 egg, whisked
a dash of vanilla extract
Ingredients of custard:
3 eggs
110 gm caster sugar
225 gm hot water
85 gm evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
How To Make:
Method (making crust):
Place butter at room temperature until softened. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in color.
Add in whisked egg, half at a time, beat over low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
Sift in flour in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions with a spatula, and make sure all ingredients combine well. Knead into dough. (see picture)
Roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thickness. Cut dough with a cookie cutter that is just a bit smaller than your tart tin in size. Line dough in the middle of tart tins, one by one. Lightly press the dough with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides. While pressing the dough, turn the tart tin clockwise/anti-clockwise in order to make an even tart shell. Trim away any excess dough.
Method (making custard):
Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water. Mix well.
Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a tea pot. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.
Method (baking tarts):
Preheat oven to 200C. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.
Lower the heat to 180C. Keep an eye on them. Once you see the custard being puffed up a bit, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked through. Just insert a toothpick into the custard. If it stands on its own, it’s done.
Notes:
1. Placing tarts at the lower rack in oven could cook crusts easily before the egg custard being heated up too quickly. (My oven will automatically turn on the heater at the bottom when it turns to “bake mode”. It’s better to check the menu of your own oven and know how your oven is designed.)
2. At the very last stage, pull the oven door open a few inches. This method is to avoid custard from being puffed up too high. The custard would collapse once they are cooled down otherwise.
*from variety sources