Reviewed: Dec. 26, 2006

These are absolutely delicious! I hesitated after seeing the mix reviews but decided to go ahead anyway.The recipe is easy to follow, and yes, the tarts taste like bought-from-store. I've reduced the sugar for the dough to 90gm and 100 gm for the custard as I do not like them too sweet. And yes, there is too much custard for the dough - you'll need 1.5 times of the dough to use up the custard. I've substituted evaporated milk with fresh milk and they still turn out great. I've tried replacing butter with margarine and regretted it - the tarts were bland. So just stick to butter. Will definitely make this again. My dad and husband were totally impressed! Thanks for the recipe :}

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Reviewer:

myk

Reviewed: Dec. 15, 2006

I used 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar for the crust instead, and it turned out fine. This recipe is pretty time-consuming, especially during the process of making the crust. To save time, I heated the water and sugar before making the crust so that the sugar mixture can cool while I'm working on the crust. Make sure you make the crust thinner because it expands while baking. The custard is really good, almost like those you buy from Dim Sum restaurants. I know this because I am Chinese. :) This recipe makes more than 12 tarts. Enjoy the recipe!

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Reviewer:

LuVeLLe

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore

Reviewed: Nov. 17, 2006

The custard was dead on! The crust, definitely more dense and buttery like a cookie crust than the flaky, crusty top, moist shell of the bakery/restaurant. More work than i expected however. If you care about the presentation at all, making each individual crust does take a lot of time and care to roll and flatten. Tasty enough that i'd try making it again, but i would definitely make the balls no larger than 1 inch in size, then flatten each with a rolling pin so that the crust is de-emphasized and the taste of the custard comes out more. Tried making it a second time. Used Prepackaged Pillsboury pie crust. Used a glass flipped upside down to cut out perfectly shaped round doughs and placed them directly into muffin trays. Make sure to use nonstick spray. The crust was flaky, and light, just like in a Chinese bakery. Because the crust bakes much faster, be careful not to bake too long, however. I overbaked them at 15 minutes, and i'm thinking 10-12 minutes would be appropriate. The crust came out much better this way, and it took A LOT less prep time.

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Reviewer:

SecondsPlease

Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2006

Not to my liking, but you have to like egg custard. The dough for the crust was okay nothing special. I probably won't be making again.

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

2loree

Reviewed: Aug. 13, 2006

My family loved it! The filling was perfect. Except it was just a tad too sweet, i would use a different crust (no sugar added preferably) Just like from the bakeries and shops! would make again for sure. btw, i used a fork and made marks along the edges of the crust for a pretty effect.

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40 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

LIANG

Cooking Level: Beginning

Reviewed: Aug. 8, 2006

The crust is just fine for me and the sweetness of the custard is just right. Sure will make again.

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10 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Nana Sidek

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore

Living In: Jurong West, West Region, Singapore

Reviewed: Mar. 20, 2006

The custard was perfect...not too sweet like the way I like it, however, the pastry was a little tough. Me and my boyfriend put less dough and more butter but the pastry was still tough (although the extra butter did give it a very nice flavour!) I decreased the temperature to 375 F and if the crust begins to brown too quickly, I suggest loosely wrapping aluminum foil over the tarts to prevent the crust from overbrowning. According to other reviewers, the dough was also too sweet so I decreased the confectioner's sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup, which still made it sweet enough. The recipe also produced too much custard mixture (which I didn't mind) so I just put the excess custard in 3 ramekins and baked it at 350 F for about 25 - 30 minutes and it made delicious egg custards! In conclusion, I give this 4 stars instead of 5 because of the dough (I'm use to the soft, flaky ones they serve at chinese bakeries) but everything is was great!

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Reviewer:

Angie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Living In: Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Reviewed: Mar. 4, 2006

Of course most importantly, the filling is quite authentic and was perfect as directed. The pastry recipe makes a firm butter shell. I ended up having to add an extra tablespoon of margarine.

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4 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Gwynne Kloch

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Reviewed: Feb. 15, 2006

Not sweet enough! I added an extra 1/4 cup of sugar. However, the texture is absolutely great, and authentically Hong Kong style.

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Reviewer:

azzilann

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Feb. 12, 2006

the egg custard was good, taste just like the ones from the chinese bakery shop. however, the pastry is somewhat flat - suggest using cake flour instead of plain flour for added fluffiness.

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114 users found this review helpful