Egg Tarts ... Cheater's Version

When overseas, we always crave for home food. Egg tart is one of the food we miss. It's one food item which everyone in the family misses. Hence, when I saw this recipe (cheater's version) at Christine's, I was more than happy to give it a try!

I had baked these egg tarts a couple of times. The first time, I had used Filo Pastry. The egg custard  tasted good, but the base of the tart is a far cry from what we are used to having. It's kind of strange to have a "popiah" kind of bsase for an egg tart! Still, we are not overly picker eaters, so we were happy to have a taste of home.

One day, I had a leftover piece of puff pastry. I decided I should try baking egg tarts using puff pastry instead of filo pastry. Ok, the pastry puffed so much that the egg custard was hardly visible. But we definitely prefer the puff pastry base as compared to the filo base!


Ingredients for egg custard:

100ml     Whipping Cream
75ml       Milk @ room temperature
40g         Castor Sugar
2             Egg Yolks
2.5 tsp     Cake Flour

 

• In a saucepan, mix cream with milk. Add sugar.
• Under low heat, stir till sugar dissolves. 
• Let cool completely. 
• Stir in egg yolks and flour. Combine well.
• Drain through a sieve and set aside. 

Preparing the base with Puff Pastry :

• Thaw the puff pastry as per the instructions on the box.
• Cut into squares. 
• Using a rolling pin, flatten each square as much as you can.

• Place each "stretched" piece of puff pastry into the muffin pan.
• Make sure the pastry covers the rim, or the liquid custard will overflow and go under the pastry. 
• When done covering the muffin pan with the puff pastry, pour the egg custard mixture over.
• Fill each muffin hole to half or slightly more. 
• When overfilled, the custard will take a longer time to cook, and the pastry base may be burnt by the time the custard is baked. 

This recipe yields a soft custard centre. The egg custard goes very well with the soft, puffy base, and especially so when served warm. My boy saw me typing this post and asked me "When are you making egg tarts again?". Soon, my dear, when the heat wave is over. Mom is not even cooking in this heat! To bake in the tiny kitchen will be suicidal.

Apple Crumble

What do you do when you have many apples, from an apple-picking trip? Especially when the apples are tart, not your usual Gala apples.

Yesterday, for dessert, I diced some apples, dipped in chocolate ganache, and top it with ground peanuts. Today, I used 5 big apples to make apple crumble =)

The little one at home loved it!

He had been coming to the dining table, asking for more, more and more!

Had to put a stop to it, or he would not be able to eat his dinner later.

He was happy to have it for dessert, after dinner =)

Adapted from : Williams-Sonoma Baking, Food Made Fast

2 lb, 1 kg Large tart apples such as Granny Smith

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

2 tbsp Granulated Sugar

3/4 cup, Old Fashion Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar, firmly packed

1/3 cup Flour

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 pinch Salt

6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted

1/2 cup Walnuts (I used pecans), optional

• Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish.
• Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
• Peel and core the apples, and slice them into a bowl.
• Add lemon juice and granulated sugar. Toss to coat.
• Place the apples in the prepared dish and pat them so they are level.
• In a bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and walnuts. Drizzle the melted butter over the mixture and toss with a fork until evenly moistened. Cover the apples evenly with the topping.
• Bake until the apples are tender when pierced with a knife and the topping is browned, 35 - 40 minutes.
• Let cool slightly in the pan on a wire rack.
• Spoon the crumble into bowls, top each with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream, if desired, and serve.

We finished three-quarters of it by the end of the day!

What's next? Vanilla-Apple Muffins?