Everyone loves Portuguese egg tarts and I am sharing my Portuguese egg tarts recipe with you.
I did not make these Portuguese egg tarts from scratch. If you stay true and authentic to the recipe, it’s perfectly fine to take short cuts when it comes to cooking or baking. For the shell, I “cheated” with a pack of off-the-shelf Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix. You can also use Pillsbury frozen and rolled pie crust.
The taste of these Portuguese egg tarts taste trumps everything else. The instant pie crust mix did not disappoint. In fact, it completely blew me away–the crust was so flaky and the texture was so light that my Portuguese egg tarts tasted like they came straight out of a patisserie. If you don’t like your Portuguese egg tarts too sweet, you can reduce the sugar a little bit. Be sure to use jumbo-size eggs or you might be short of the filling mixture for these Portuguese egg tarts…
If you live in California and would like to try out some really good egg tarts, I strongly urge you to go to the following two establishments:
Golden Gate Bakery
1029 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 781-2627
This famed bakery is a legend in the San Francisco Bay Area. The line is longer than the Great Wall of China, but let me assure you that their egg tarts are well worth the painful wait. Don’t expect any good service from the shop keepers either, but do expect a lot of satisfaction from the hot-off-the-oven egg tarts.
Golden Gate’s egg tarts are 5 fingers licking good.
Jim’s Bakery (金狮饼家)
102 E. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 573-5757
This is the best kept secret of Southern California. Jim’s egg tarts are equally sublime and the crusts are so flaky they are to die for. Trays and trays of egg tarts are served right out of the oven but they are usually gone in no time. Call ahead to get the freshest and prettiest selection.
Opens from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
(Makes 10 tarts)
Ingredients A (Crust):
1 box of Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix (Net Wt 11 Oz) or 1 frozen and rolled Pillsbury 9-inch pie crust
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup cold water
Ingredients B (Filling):
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup of sugar (or slightly less if you don’t like your Portuguese egg tarts too sweet)
1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup of milk
3 drops of vanilla extract
Method:
Stir the pie crust mix, cold water, and melted butter until pastry forms a ball. On a floured surface, roll the dough and cut it into 12 balls. Set aside.
Use an electronic hand beater to blend Ingredients B. Beat for about 3 minutes and strain the filling through a strainer. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter the muffin pan.
Flatten the balls into small rounds and fit them well into the muffin pan by pressing firmly on bottom and side (do not over stretch). Fill the pie crust dough with the egg mixture (about 80% full).
Bake the Portuguese Egg Tarts at 400F for about 15-20 minutes or until the filling turn brown.
Cook’s Note:
If you use Pillsbury frozen pie crust, you just use it as is, meaning just cut it out into 10 rounds and fit into your muffin pan.
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
*PURRRRRRRR*
- Chubbypanda
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“If you live in California and would like to try out some really good egg tarts…” I thought you would say, “I’ll sent some to you…” ;p
Email doesn’t count!
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fed ex!!
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Ha ha…came in too late for the contest. Yah! Golden Gate Bakery’s egg tart are good. I’ve stood in line many a times but worth it, though the staff there aren’t the smiley type! Looks like I gotta go to King’s Bakery here to get a bite of egg tarts now! ;o)
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Looks like I can give this Tart recipe a shot. But wait! I need to buy an electronic mixer first.
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so do I get a price for the correct answer ? ( not the tart but the creator ! )
a new —– is born !
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After this post, I completely defer to your wisdom, oh great Rasa Malaysia. Any restaurant you recommend, I’m there. Yes, you are absolutely right, Golden Gate Bakery has the BEST egg tarts on this side of CA!
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CP - Nod.
Tigerfish - see, the thing about sending egg tarts is that they won’t taste as good, so it’s best just to ogle the screen. :P
Teckiee - I see that you can’t wait for my FEDEX and already got yourself King’s egg tarts.
WMW - now I am very intrigue by King’s egg tarts; will have to try them out the next time I go to KL.
Simcooks - no need to buy, you can just whisk the mixture or beat with fork. ;)
BSG - Thanks for your admiration and confidence in me, I day dream that one day I will be a ****. LOL!
PE - you are too kind. Gotta head up to load up those delish egg tarts at Golden Gate. Simply heavenly…yummy.
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your egg tarts look more like currypuffs… =P
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Great idea about the pastry! Why didn’t I think of it before. Thanks for the recipe.
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I like Portuguese egg tarts better than the usual ones. This one gives the oomph!
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Chris - Curry Puffs look like this: http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/g/ga/garytamin/511493_curry_puff.jpg :P
Dr. Ve Thru - other than instant pie crust mix, you can also “cheat” with puff pastry sheets (takes longer time). ;)
Yes, Portugese egg tarts are like the deluxe egg tarts. :)
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Your tarts look good. I made this kind of tart a month or two months ago. It’s so yummy. Check my tarts at http://indonesia-eats.blogspot.com/2006/11/portuguese-custard-tarts.html
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How come you preheat oven to 200F? Shouldn’t it be 400F?
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Oh. And do you know how to make curry puff crust like the ones in the picture you referenced above? (http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/g/ga/garytamin/511493_curry_puff.jpg)
Can use the same Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix or not?
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Simcooks - yes, preheat to 200 and then put the tray in…it will go up to 400 and bake until brown. :)
Regarding the curry puff shells, I will post the recipe soon.
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Hi there, I recently came across your blog while searching online for Malaysian recipes. I had to try this one, since I dearly miss egg tarts (and also because I already had most of the ingredients, aha). They turned out really well! Didn’t look quite as good as yours (I got confused about the 200 then 400 oven temparature, so I turned it up to 400… Now I know!), but delicious. I look forward to trying your other recipes! Thanks. :) Oh yeah, do you take recipe requests?
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If anybody reading this page is ever coming to macau, China you can try our original egg tarts (actually called “cream” cakes in the direct translation from the portuguese or better yet “nata”).
We are portuguese, so we know how to make them.
Our website is at nataworld.com take a look and gives us atry next time you’re in Macau.
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did ur crust turn out to be flaky like lord stows? i baked taarts once before from scratch.. the crust was not as flaky as i want
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These look great! Can I ask, what size muffin tin did you use?
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Hey! I am new to your blog and I am amazed by the amount of effect you have put into this blog :)
If you ever have a chance to go to Macau or Hong Kong, you will need to try the Portuguese-style egg tart by the Koi Kei Bakery/鉅 記. They are really good. :)
Thanks for the receipe btw !
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The usual Macau egg tarts are based on a centuries-old Portuguese Recipe. The Portuguese version is healthier then the egg tart and it’s called a NATA. There’s a place in Macau selling these and they are really great in my opinion. Everytime i’m in Macau I pop by the cafe and have a bunch with my family. For me, the portuguese NATA tastes much better. This is the only place you can get them in Asia as far as I know.
The coffeeshop is called CUPPACOFFEE and is in Taipa Island… let me get the card: R. Fernao Mendes Pinto, 104 near a chinese cafe everyone knows called Hei Lin (you can mention that name to the taxi driver).
Barry,
UK
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T. Smith replied:
Had some tarts from Cuppa, not as good, to my taste, as Stowes. Take the bus next time and give them a try.
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cool recipe. I like the ease of the crust (from a box!). A couple suggestions:
1) make the pastry part thin (really stretch it, without breaking it of course), so it doesn’t take forever to cook. also so the egg doesn’t overflow and burn (guess what happened to mine?)
2) bake the pastry part a bit before putting in the egg part. I haven’t tried the second suggestion myself (next time), but I had a lot of trouble with the cooking time and had to keep slicing up a sacrificial tart to see if it was cooked. Also, mine were browned at the end, but I would have liked them yellow still.
However, they still tasted good with a buttery, flaky crust and sweet filling.
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I made these tonight and these were very good! ^__^
I rolled the dough out thinner and got about 17 egg tarts, which worked out well, because I like thin crusts :)
Aside from the fact that the boxed pie crust mix is a little saltier than it would have been had I made it from scratch, everything else turned out so well! Thank you so much for the inspiration :)
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OK - don’t believe Stowe’s used Betty Crocker in their egg tarts. Had the opportunity to recently go to Macau and to Stowe’s, great tarts, also had them at various places in Taipa and Macau, but not quite the same quality. Will try your Betty Crocker method and judge from that.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
For homemade egg tarts, I sure hope this meet your expectations :)
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Tried this today, LOVED it. Thank you! :)
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Great that the recipe works for you.
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OMG these look divine! I have to get my hands on some of these. I’m in LA next week. Maybe I’ll have time to go to Jims. I hope!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Good luck. I haven’t been to Jim’s for a while, I need my fix of egg tarts.
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