These flakey, buttery egg tarts taste like those from your favorite Chinese bakery. No one will believe that these are actually healthy!
This is the BEST healthy egg tart recipe. It has no refined flour or sugar, and is made with ONLY 5 ingredients— a Win-Win! The flakiness is UNREAL thanks to a very special folding technique.
Hong Kong Egg Tarts Vs. Portuguese Egg Tarts
Did you know that there are two very different versions of the Egg Tart? The Hong Kong egg tart and the Portuguese egg tart, aka Macau egg tart, are two variations of the dessert, which are often mistaken for each other. In a brief summary, Hong Kong egg tarts are less sweet and have a jello-like filling. The filling looks smooth and shiny, and has a bright yellow color. On the other hand, Portuguese egg tarts have a much sweeter, custard-like filling that is smooth and creamy. The filling is dotted with specks of caramelized custard. One similarity, though, is the crust. Both egg tarts have a flaky, buttery crust that is the signature of the dish. In today's recipe, we are making Hong Kong egg tarts. I grew up Asian American, and this is the version I grew up eating. I have tried the Portuguese egg tart before, but thought it was too sweet and heavy for my liking. If you would like to make a Portuguese style egg tart, replace all the eggs in the custard with 5 egg yolks, and replace the milk with cream. You may add more sweetener if you wish, it shouldn't affect the texture too much.
The Crust
For the crust, you'll need white whole wheat flour. I learned from the blog, amyshealthybaking.com that white whole wheat flour is a type of whole wheat flour made from white whole wheat, unlike normal whole wheat flour which is make from red whole wheat. They both have the same nutritional benefits, but white whole wheat flour is a lot lighter than regular whole wheat flour, which will work better for pastries like this. You could substitute regular whole wheat flour, but the pastry may not turn out as flakey as you would like. The white whole wheat flour I have is this white whole wheat Atta that I bought in a huge bag from Costco: https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/khazana-organic-whole-wheat-flour%2c-10-lbs.product.100319155.html . Whole wheat pastry flour will also work really well, if not better, for this recipe. When measuring flour, I always recommend using a scale for the most accurate measurements. But, this recipe is pretty flexible, so using volume measurements and being a couple grams off are totally fine.
Now about the butter. When making the dough, you'll want to use cold butter, and keep it cold. The secret to an extremely flakey pastry is making a butter dough by combining cold butter, and flour salt and making a water dough by combining cold water, flour, and an egg yolk. If you are using salted butter already, skip the salt. Then you'll use a special folding technique to fold these two doughs together, creating wonderfully flakey layers of pastry. The key is to keep everything COLD, or else the butter will melt before baking, resulting in gluten formation which will not allow flakey layers.
The Filling
The filling for these egg tarts is suuuuuuper simple. First, make a simple syrup by dissolving your sweetener of choice (sugar, monk fruit, erythritol, coconut sugar, etc.) is some water. You can do this in the microwave or over a double broiler. Make sure to use a sweetener that can dissolve like sugar, or you will be left with a grainy, sandy textured custard. Now add in your eggs. Use your leftover egg white from making the crust, along with an egg and half an egg. Half an egg may be hard to measure, so I suggest measuring by weight instead of volume. Then you can add in milk, vanilla extract, and some stevia. You could also add an extra 1 1/2 tbsp of sweetener into the simple syrup. Whisk this together until completely smooth. To make sure the filling is EXTRA smooth, pass it through a sift to get rid of any lumps.
The Assembly
First, let's talk about the pans. Not everyone has those tart pans that are traditionally used for egg tarts! I find that muffin tins work just find. Make sure to line the tins with muffin liners, since these egg tarts do stick quite a bit.
When rolling out the dough for the crust, you'll want to roll it out to around 1/8 of an inch thick. I find that is the perfect thickness for a perfectly baked, flakey crust. I would use a ruler to measure this, but you could also eye ball it. Next cut out circles using a cookie cutter or if you don't have one, a cup will work just fine. The size of the circle will depend on the size of your tart pans. You'll want the circles to be just slightly bigger than the size of the tart pans. You can reroll this dough many times. If the dough seems to be getting too warm, place it back in the fridge to chill for another 20-30 minutes.
If you are using muffin tins like I did, you should end up with around 9 egg tarts. Pour the filling on top of the crust. Make sure not to overflow the tarts with filling, as they will leak out and stick onto the pan. Now you can bake the egg tarts. Make sure to preheat the oven beforehand! I usually like to preheat the oven right before rolling out the crust dough.
Now these are ready to enjoy! They are best warm, just like any other pastry. You can enjoy these as a dessert, or even breakfast, we won't tell.
Storage
You can store these egg tarts in an airtight container in the fridge for around 3 days. Before eating it, I suggest baking it in the oven preheated to 400° F (205° C) for around 5 minutes or until warm. This way, you will always feel like you are eating fresh egg tarts!
You could also freeze these. Just place them in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 month. When you want to eat one, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight and pop it in the oven at 350° F for around 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Watch this YouTube Video to see the folding technique!
Healthy Egg Tarts
Prep Time: 1 Hour Cook Time: 25 Minutes Total: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
Serves: 9
These flakey, buttery egg tarts taste like those from your favorite Chinese bakery. No one will believe that these are actually healthy!
Ingredients
Butter Dough:
1/2 cup (60 grams) white whole wheat flour*
1/4 tsp salt**
7 tbsp. (100 grams) cold cubed butter**
Water Dough:
1/2 cup (60 grams) white whole wheat flour*
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp (30 grams) water
Filling:
2 tbsp + 2 tsp (33 grams) sweetener of choice
1/4 cup (60 grams) water
1 egg***
1/2 (2 tbsp/25 grams) egg
1 egg white
1/2 cup (120 grams) milk of choice***
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp stevia (or extra 1 1/2 tbsp (19 grams)) sweetener in syrup)
Instructions
1. To make the butter dough, add the white whole wheat flour, salt, and butter to a blender or food processor. Pulse just until a dough forms, 1-2 minutes. Do not overmix. You can also cut the butter into the dough by hand. Wrap it in plastic wrap, form into a square, and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
2. For the water dough, add the white whole wheat flour, egg yolk, and water to a blender or food processor. Blend until a dough forms. Add more water a tsp at a time if it looks too wet, and add flour a tsp at a time if it looks too dry. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the butter dough is ready.
3. Take both the doughs out of the fridge. Dust a surface with flour and with a rolling pin roll out the water dough into a diamond shape around 1/4 inch thick. Place your butter dough on top and fold the water dough over the butter dough. Roll this out into a rectangle around 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough onto itself in thirds until there are 3 layers. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. Roll the dough out again into a rectangle around 1/8 inch thick. Fold it like a book into 4 layers. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. Last Fold: roll the dough out into a rectangle 1/8 inch thick. Fold it onto itself like a book so there are 4 layers. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
*Folding technique is shown in my YouTube Video above
4. Add the sweetener and water to a bowl. Microwave or put it over a double broiler until the sweetener dissolves to make a simple syrup. Set this aside to cool. In a medium bowl add in the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and sweetener. Whisk this vigorously until smooth. Slowly stream in the cooled simple syrup while whisking. When completely incorporated, pass this mixture through a sift at least 3 times to get rid of any lumps or bubbles.
5. Preheat the oven to 400° F (205° C). Line your muffin pan/tart pan with muffin liners. Roll your dough to 1/8 inch thick. Using a circular cookie cutter/cup, cut out circles slightly larger than your muffin pan/tart pan. Reroll the dough and cut out more circles until all the dough is used up. Press them into your prepared pans. Using a fork poke a few holes at the bottom. Fill the crusts with the custard filling. Bake for around 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set.
6. Let cool for around 5 minutes and enjoy warm!
Notes
*You can also use AP flour, gluten free flour, and whole wheat pastry flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted, but it will affect the texture.
** If using salted butter, omit the salt.
***If you want a Portuguese style egg tart, use 5 egg yolks instead of the eggs and cream instead of milk. You may also add more sweetener as needed.
Nutrition Info
Serving Size: 1 egg tart
Calories: 150 kcal
Fat: 10 g
Carbohydrates: 15 g
Sugars: 1 g
Protein: 4 g
Sodium: 57 mg
Fiber: 2 g
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