Chinese Egg Tarts

I’ve talked before about my undying love for all the treasures Chinatown has to offer, and warmer weather has me particularly excited to renew my regular visits to the neighborhood. Another thing I just love is a solid, repetitive and unexciting routine, and one of my favorites is running from the upper east side down to Chinatown early on a Saturday morning. My neighborhood is slow to wake up on the weekends, but by the time I get to Bowery and Grand, the street carts are out and everything feels so alive. And yes, I mean this both literally and figuratively as I’m sure you can imagine the number of actual living and breathing creatures that are displayed out on the sidewalk.

I used to do this run a lot during marathon training when I was trying to get in miles during the week (every time I write about marathon training in the past tense I breathe a sigh of relief), and would embark on the journey with a post-it of ingredients, a credit card and a $10 bill tucked in my shorts. Upon arrival at my destination, I’d buy a bottle of water from a street cart and take my remaining $8 to my favorite food destination. It has no discernible name, but it’s a very crowded store that is part meat locker, part bakery, with a few odd tables here and there. I’d head straight to the bakery where I’d stand among Mandarin speakers and generally be ignored for several minutes, but it was all worth it because in the end I’d leave the shop with treats, king of which are these egg custard tarts.

These tarts arrived in Hong Kong via Macau, and are very similar to the Portuguese pastel de nata and other English custard tarts. They have a slightly crispy, sugary shell and are filled with delicious egg custard. Mine are slightly more rustic than the ones you might find in shops, but they are still adorable and delicious.

Pastries often seem intimidating, but that couldn’t be further from the truth for these sunny tarts. They require two hands, a whisk and a muffin tin. The eggy dough comes together easily in a bowl, and the custard filling is just an amalgamation of heavy cream and every egg yolk in your refrigerator. Pop them in the oven until the inside is set, remove a batch of magical golden tarts and savor every bite.

A note on removing these from their muffin tin homes- they’re delicate, so remove them gently by running a butter knife around the edge of each and tilt the pan to release them.

And lastly, I know I’ve been a little slower to post than I had been and hope to- there’s a lot going on chez Elizabeth at the moment but I should be back to my usual speed in the next couple of weeks! Thanks for being patient.