-
Prep time
10 minutes
-
Cook time
45 minutes
-
Serves
6-8
Author Notes
Growing up, one of my favorite pastries to order at any dimsum restaurant have always been Portuguese or Macau-style egg tarts. They’re these individual, fist-sized tarts that have a deeply flavorful, well-caramelized custard top and flaky puff pastry all around the base and sides. Just a note: These are distinctly different from the more common Hong Kong-style egg tarts, which have a shortcrust-like pastry shell and an eggy, glossy, just-set yellow custard. I love both, but the Portuguese/Macau-style ones have a special place in my heart.
On a weekend baking whim, I decided to make some on my own. But instead of making multiple egg tarts, I supersized them into one big 9-inch tart! So whether you want to call this a paunchy Portuguese egg tart, a plump pastel de nata, or simply a dai po tat (大葡挞; literally meaning big egg tart), this definitely belongs in the S-tier of pastries. (And yes, for those in the know, it’s similar to tarte de nata in Portugal, but with a puff pastry crust instead of the traditional shortcrust version.)
To make it, I combined milk, cream, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla, then stirred them together to dissolve the sugar and salt. Then I rolled out a puff pastry dough (I used store-bought but if you have the time and patience, a home-made dough would make this even better!), fit it snugly into a tart pan, then poured the custard into it. I baked this in an oven for 45 minutes, and it turned into this bubbly monster of an egg tart — charred and caramelized on top, crisp all around the crust, with a super soft, jiggly custard center.
You might ask, are all desserts better when they’re bigger? In the case of egg tarts, I firmly believe that the answer is a hefty, resounding yes! —Jun
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
-
1
puff pastry dough, homemade or store-bought
-
1 cup
(240ml) whole milk
-
½ cups
(120ml) whipping cream
-
100 grams
(½ cup) granulated sugar
-
½ teaspoons
(2g) kosher salt
-
6
egg yolks
-
1 teaspoon
(5ml) vanilla extract
Directions
-
Roll out the puff pastry dough until roughly ⅛ inch (3mm) thick and into a disc larger than a 9.5 inch (24cm) circular tart pan, with at least an extra inch of dough on all sides. Place the dough into the tart pan, fit it snugly into the pan, and trim off any excess dough. Place the tart pan in the fridge to firm up the dough.
-
Heat an oven to 390°F (199°C).
-
Combine the milk, cream, sugar, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Gently whisk everything together to dissolve the sugar and salt, but do not whisk any more as we don’t want to incorporate any air bubbles into it.
-
Take the tart pan out of the fridge, and pour the custard into the tart. The custard should reach around three-quarters up the sides of the tart dough. (Do not fill the custard past this mark as it might spill over during the bake.) If there are air bubbles on the surface of the custard, you can remove them with a spoon or by gently heating it with a blowtorch.
-
Bake the tart in the oven for 40-45 minutes, rotating halfway. The custard will bubble and caramelize on top, which is perfectly normal. (We want this.) If the custard is looking like it’s burning too quickly, turn down the temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue the bake.
-
When done, take the tart out of the oven. Let it cool in the tart pan for 10 minutes, then slice and eat! The tart can keep well for up to 2 days in the fridge, but the crust will turn progressively softer and soggier so do eat it as soon as you can.
See what other Food52ers are saying.