Recipe Repeat: I Live for Dan Tat

Note: I am currently traveling and may not be able to immediately respond to emails, etc. Thanks for your patience!

This post is excerpted from a post I wrote back in May 2010. The recipe for homemade dan tat in that post is one of the most popular recipes on THIH and the one about which I get the most emails. Enjoy this recipe repeat!

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When I was growing up, my parents, sisters, and I would visit our family in Toronto a few times a year. While I most looked forward to playing with my cousins and seeing our grandparents, I always had a special place in my heart for dan tat, a.k.a. egg custard tarts. If you have Asian blood in you, you know what I mean. My aunt knows my love of dan tat, so she always had a box of them whenever we stayed over in her apartment. I could eat three dan tat in one sitting. I jest not. They are about 4 – 5 inches in diameter, so they ain’t tiny (Edited to add by future Jessie: they’re more like 3 inches in diameter. I guess my eyes are bigger than my … dan tat?).

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I’ve been wanting to make dan tat for a long time, so with my upcoming trip to China, I figured now would be a great time (Note from present-day Jessie: I do not have an upcoming trip to China, unfortunately. See this page for my China posts from 2010). I scoured the Internet for a good recipe and discovered this somewhat complicated recipe from Edible Memories. Achieving a true flaky pastry is a hallmark of dan tat and requires extra effort that I did not feel like exerting have time for, SO … easy Jessified pastry it is!

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Yum, yum, and more yum! I haven’t had dan tat in a few years, so these bite-sized egg tarts were just what I needed. So easy, and so delicious. They taste like sweet egg custard, but very mild. They’re not too eggy because the filling is mostly milk. Smooth and sweet. I highly recommend them!

Dan Tat (Egg Custard Tart)

  Prep Time: 15 minutes

  Cook Time: 20 minutes

  Keywords: bake breakfast dessert snack

Ingredients (30 mini or 10 regular)

    Pastry

    • 2 cups flour
    • 12 tbsp butter, cold (1 1/2 sticks)
    • 1 Tbsp sugar
    • Cold water

    Filling

    • 1 egg, gently beaten
    • 3/4 cup skim milk
    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • Splash vanilla extract

    Instructions

    If using a food processor, add butter, flour, and sugar and pulse until the mixture looks like cornmeal. Alternatively, sift the flour and sugar together and work butter in with cold fingers. Do not let the butter get too warm.

    Pour about 1 Tbsp of cold water into flour and butter mixture and stir, either with a spoon or with the food processor. Continue to add water in small increments and stir until the dough pulls together. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and put in the fridge to chill while preparing the filling.

    To make the filling, stir together the filling ingredients until well combined and there are no yolk streaks.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Flour a cutting board and place chilled dough on it. Roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter or glass to cut out circles of dough. Place dough circles into foil or paper-lined muffin tins and press down gently. Fill dough cups about 3/4 full with egg filling.

    Bake for about 20 minutes, or until egg filling gets puffy. Remove and serve either hot, room-temperature or cold.

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    Q: What’s your favorite childhood treat?

    4 Comments

    1. My mom used to make them especially for my potlucks in my childhood! It’s one of my favorite desserts before I became a vegan in my early 20s! I hope one day I can find a good vegan recipe on these!

      1. If you do find one, let me know! 🙂

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