Portuguese Egg Tarts with Flaky Pastry, Sweetened with Monk Fruit
Sweets and drinksBaked GoodsEurope and North Americaat least 30 minutes chilling the dough, 8 to 10 minutes to bake the shells, then 30 to 35 minutes more
These Portuguese egg tarts have a shell that bursts into crisp layers and a custard that still wobbles. The tricky part is butter melting during the rolling and folding, which glues the layers together and loses the flakiness.
The secret is keeping the dough very cold through all four rolls and folds, and cooking part of the custard on the stove before it goes into the molds. The rolled dough is cut into 11 to 12 equal pieces.
This batch weighs about 636g, at roughly 261 calories per 100g.
Method
Make the butter dough: cut 45 grams of cold unsalted butter into small cubes and rub it quickly into 50 grams of flour with your fingertips for 1 to 2 minutes, until it comes together while the butter is still firm. If it stays crumbly, sprinkle over 2 teaspoons of very cold water. Chill for 15 to 20 minutes.
Make the water dough: mix 100 grams of flour, 18 grams of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 20 grams of vegetable oil, 1 gram of salt and 50 grams of cold unsweetened oat milk, then knead by hand for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth and pliable.
Roll the water dough into a rectangle 0.3 to 0.4cm thick. Flatten the butter dough, set it in the middle and seal the edges over it. Roll it into a rectangle, fold it like a letter, turn it 90 degrees and repeat. Roll and fold 4 times in all, keeping the dough cold throughout.
Roll the dough into a rectangle and roll it up lengthways like a swiss roll.
Cut the roll into 11 to 12 equal pieces of about 25 to 27 grams each.
Press each piece flat, roll it to about 0.3cm, then press it into a mold and up the sides, leaving a little overhang. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 175 degrees C with top and bottom heat 15 minutes ahead.
Make the custard: heat 100 grams of cream with 150 grams of unsweetened oat milk to about 50 to 60 degrees C. Whisk 3 egg yolks with 45 grams of kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, sift in 25 grams of cornstarch and mix, then pour in the warm cream slowly while whisking. Return everything to the pot, cook over medium heat and stir constantly until it thickens slightly, then take it off, stir in 2 grams of salt and three quarters of a teaspoon of liquid vanilla, and cover to keep warm.
Bake the shells at 175 degrees C for 8 to 10 minutes, take them out and divide the custard between them, straining it if you like.
Bake for another 30 to 35 minutes at 175 degrees C until the shells are golden and the custard still wobbles.
Tips
Block margarine can stand in for the butter, but oil cannot.
With a low protein flour such as cake flour, cut the milk by 5 to 10 grams or add 5 to 10 grams more flour.
Oat milk works in place of the cream, though cream tastes much better.
Part of the custard has to be cooked before baking, or the starch settles to the bottom as a chewy layer.
If the butter starts leaking partway through, chill the dough for 15 minutes before rolling on, as pushing through loses the layers.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.