Egg tart is a Western-style pie made of egg paste. It was born in Guangzhou in the 1920s and became famous overseas after it spread to Hong Kong. Known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Cantonese dim sum.

The method is to put the cake crust into a small round pan-shaped cake mold, pour in the egg slurry mixed with sugar and eggs, and then put it in the oven. The outer layer of the baked egg tart is a crispy tart skin, and the inner layer is a sweet yellow solidified egg paste. In the early days, the egg tarts in tea restaurants were relatively large, and one egg tart could become an afternoon tea meal.

Many restaurants in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China also include egg tarts in their dim sum. Laura Mason pointed out in "Traditional Foods of Britain" that as early as the Middle Ages, the British had used milk, sugar, eggs, and different spices to make food similar to egg tarts.

Egg tarts are also one of the dishes of the sixth banquet in the Manchu Banquet in the 17th century in China. Among them, Cantonese-style egg tarts can be divided into two types based on the tart skin: butter egg tarts and puff pastry egg tarts.

1. Butter

Butter egg tart shell is relatively smooth and complete, like a basin-shaped biscuit. There is a smell of butter, similar to the stuffing crust commonly used in western pastries, and the taste is like cookies, so it is also called cookie crust.

2. Pastry

The pastry of meringue tart is a layer of thin meringue, which is similar to the Puff Pastry of Western desserts; but because of the use of Lard, the taste is rougher than that of Puff Pastry. In addition, because the tart skin is thicker, the amount of fillings in meringue egg tarts is less than that of butter egg tarts.

In addition to the mainstream egg tarts that use sugar and eggs as the egg paste, there are also variant egg tarts that are mixed with other ingredients, such as fresh milk tarts, ginger egg tarts, meringue egg tarts, chocolate egg tarts, and bird’s nest egg tarts.

3. Portuguese

Portuguese-style cream tart, also known as Portuguese-style egg tart, is called Portuguese tart in Hong Kong and Macao. According to legend, it was invented by the nuns of the Jeronimo Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal at the latest in the 18th century. It was sold in the secular bakery in 1837. At that time, it was called Bellin tart because the store was located in the Bellin district of Lisbon.

The next step is to briefly introduce how to make chocolate tarts.

Egg tart crust:

90g butter, 45g powdered sugar, 240g low-gluten flour, 2 egg yolks.

Egg tart liquid part:

10g of condensed milk, 2 egg whites, 60 ml of light cream, 60 ml of milk, 15g of sugar, and an appropriate amount of chocolate sauce.

practice:

1. Pour the melted butter, powdered sugar and low-gluten flour into a bowl and beat with a whisk.

2. Add the egg yolk twice to beat, and add a little more after mixing well.

3. Sift in the low-gluten flour, mix well by hand, and slowly knead into a dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.

4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, divide it into about 12 parts, and roll it into a cake shape with a rolling pin.

5. Put it into the egg tart mold and press it with your fingers.

6. Heat the milk, sugar, and whipped cream over low heat, stir until the sugar melts, then turn off the heat, add condensed milk and stir well.

7. Pour the slightly cooled milk into the beaten egg whites.

8. Squeeze some chocolate sauce on the bottom of the egg tart, then pour in the egg tart.

9. Put it in a preheated 180-degree oven and bake for 25 minutes.