Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Ingredients

• 225g plain flour
• 125g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g caster sugar
• 250ml just-boiled water
• 4 eggs, for the custard
• 100ml evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, for the custard

Before you cook

• Rub the cold butter into the flour, icing sugar and salt with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
• Add the beaten egg and the teaspoon of vanilla, and bring the dough together with a knife without kneading it.
• Press the dough into a flat disc, wrap it, and chill it for 40 minutes.
• Grease 12 fluted tart tins of about 7cm across.
• Divide the chilled dough into 12 balls.
• Press each ball into a tin with your thumbs, working it up the sides until it is an even 4mm thick and just proud of the rim.
• Chill the lined tins for 20 minutes.

Steps

1. Stir the caster sugar into the just-boiled water until it dissolves completely, then leave it to cool to lukewarm.
2. Heat the oven to 190C fan and put a baking sheet on the middle shelf.
3. Beat the four eggs in a jug just until the yolks and whites are combined, stopping before any foam forms.
4. Whisk in the cooled sugar syrup, the evaporated milk and the half teaspoon of vanilla.
5. Pour the custard through a fine sieve twice, into a clean jug each time.
6. Skim off any bubbles that remain on the surface with a spoon.
7. Pour the custard into the chilled shells until they are about four fifths full.
8. Slide the tins onto the hot baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
9. Drop the oven to 160C fan and bake for a further 12 to 15 minutes.
10. Test a tart by giving the tin a gentle shake, looking for a custard that wobbles as one piece but shows no ripples.
11. Take the tarts out before the surface browns, since colour means the custard has gone past its best texture.
12. Cool the tins on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn the tarts out and eat them warm.