Yum Cha Egg Tarts

I love yum cha. I go almost once a week with my parents and the kids. Ready made steamers of food being carted around a trolley for you to pick out and eat without having to wait, what's not to like? Ok maybe some people would prefer to avoid the chicken feet, intestines, stomach lining and such. Just stick to the safe ones like Sui Mai (Pork, prawn and mushroom in a wonton wrap and an orange dot at the top - suppose to be fish roe) one of the more popular dumplings. And then there is the Har Gow (prawns encased in a translucent wrapping). Mental note - take photos next time I go. I just assume everyone knows what yum cha is and all the different types of dumplings.

To encourage Keane to have more steamed dumplings I bribe him with the promise of Darn Tart (or egg tart), his absolute favourite. So it got me thinking about making some at home. I myself prefer the puff pastry version, but I hear it's hard to make so I went with the short crust one and see how that goes first. These are great. I've made them twice already and the second time was better.

The dough mixture makes more than the recommended 10 tarts. I ended up using my small ramekins and a small muffin/tart pan for the extras.

Mini muffin/tart pan

Piping hot out of the oven. My place smelt so good

Not bad for a first attempt

Here is the recipe I followed. I made some minor adjustments (eg omitting the vanilla extract from the dough) but these are fantastic instructions.

Another note - Since it has been so cold, my butter was still hard even at "room temperature". So I nuked it in the microwave and ended melting the butter completely, but that didn't affect the recipe. I hate stuffing up a whole cake just because I over-nuked my butter.