I visited Macau, part of Republic of China, earlier this year. It’s a beautiful island with Portuguese architecture and Chinese culture. The best part of the trip was the free entry to almost every Heritage Site including museums. The most amazing sight is Ruins of St. Pauls Church- a true historical wonder.
The must-eats in Macau were the Portuguese Egg Tarts- soft and gooey from the middle and crispy from the outside. These tarts were readily available on the streets of Macau. The mosaic Senado Square was the center of Macau activities and this is where we first had the yum Portugese egg tarts  I took a note and decided to find a recipe and make it when I get back home. I have cooked three batches of this already and will be looking to improve it further.

 

 

update: the following recipe is for approximate 12 tarts. You can double the quantity of ingredients for filling and buy 1/2 kg puff pastry to make upto 24 tarts. The quantity of tarts can vary.

For the filling:(approximate 12 tarts)

4 Egg Yolks

½ cup cream

½ cup milk

¼ tsp Vanilla essence

1 Cinnamon Stick

½ tsp Lemon Zest

1 tbsp Corn Flour

3 tbsp Sugar

Pinch of Salt

 

For the crust

Buy 0.25 kg puff pastry dough from your nearest bakery or grocery store. This will make 12 tarts.

 

Utensils

Non-Stick Muffin Tray, Rolling Pin, Whisk

 

Procedure for making filling

• Place a saucepan on medium heat. Add half of both milk and cream in the pan and add 2 tbsp of corn flour. Mix it well with a whisk till corn flour is properly mixed.
• Now add sugar, salt and mix it well.
• Add the rest of milk and cream, cinnamon, lemon zest.
• Now add the egg yolks- slowly into the milk and keep beating it with the whisk till milk thickens like thick custard. Take the mixture off the heat.
• Mix vanilla essence. Your egg custard is ready
• Let it cool. You can also keep this filling in refrigerator for upto 2-3 days. Make sure you cover it with cling film close to the surface of custard.

 

Working with the dough

Before making the crust- keep the dough refrigerated for 30 minutes. Working with puff pastry dough can be a nightmare. Just make sure its cold enough to work easily.

• Dust the surface with white flour and roll the dough into a rectangular sheet ½ inch thick.
• Now roll the dough inside, making a cylindrical shape with one-inch height. Wrap the dough in a cling film and put it in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, switch on the oven and pre-heat on 200 C
• Take out the dough and cut off 1 inch long pieces of the cylindrical dough with a knife.
• Take one piece of dough and put it in the muffin well. With a thumb stretch the dough- about 1/8 inch out of the muffin well. The dough should be equally thin i.e. about 1/8 inch.  This will ensure that pastry is cooked properly.
• If the pastry gets hard to work with- put it in freezer for fifteen minutes and try again
• Take 1 tbsp of egg custard and fill it in the muffin well.

 

Baking

• Fill the tray and slide it into the oven.
• At 220 C – bake it for about 20-25 minutes.
• Once the tart starts appearing golden brown from top and custard swell into a dome- turn on the top grill. Let it bake till small burnt marks appear on the custard.
• Take the tray out and take the tarts out from the muffin wells
• Your Portuguese egg tarts are ready.
• Serve them warm.
  

  Portugese Egg Tarts in Macau

Edited version published in Tribune http://tribune.com.pk/story/476056/recipe-portuguese-egg-tartspoh-taht/