My Mom’s HK Style Egg Tarts with A Touch of Philly
When I think of egg tarts, I don’t think of the flaky, scorched tarts of Macau, or the sunny, silken tarts of Hong Kong. I think of thick, tangy tarts packed with bricks of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. These are my mom’s dàntǎ, and what I grew up eating when we lived in the States. They’re HK-style, but with a Philadelphia cream cheese crust and the minimum amount of sugar possible (My mom loves cutting sugar out of recipes, I inherited her zeal).
My mom doesn’t remember where she got her recipe, or if she even has written instructions. So the following recipe is cobbled together from internet recipes, my mom’s vague instructions, and my own trial and error. What we can tell you, though, is these dàntǎ are good.
Hong Kong Egg Tarts with Cream Cheese
Makes 24
Special Equipment
Egg tart molds or muffin tin
Sieve
Ingredients
Dough:
½ cup Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup powdered sugar
1½ cup all purpose flour
Filling:
3 eggs
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the butter and cream cheese. Gradually stir your flour-and-sugar mix into the bowl. Your dough will look increasingly dry and chunky. That’s normal. Just use your hands to knead and mix the dough. Everything will start blending smoothly.
Prep your muffin/tart tins by greasing the insides with butter.
Separate your dough into 24 little balls, then place them in each tin.
Use your fingers to press each dough ball into the shape of the tin. Make the shells thin—they’ll puff up a lot while baking, and you want to make sure you have lots of room for the egg filling.
Prick the bottoms of each shell with a fork, to prevent puffing.
Cover your tart tray and freeze for 20 minutes. While your dough is freezing, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Once your shells have frozen for 20 minutes, bake them for 5 minutes.
Turn the temp down to 350 degrees. Bake the shells for another 20 minutes, or until the shells are lightly baked and still pale in color.
While the shells bake, make your filling. In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over the stove until the sugar disappears. Remove from heat.
Grab a new bowl and whisk your eggs. Add the vanilla. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs, stirring all the while. Once your egg filling is well mixed, strain it through a sieve 1-2 times to get the eggy chunks out. You want your filling to be as smooth and silky as possible.
Take the shells out of the oven. Pour the filling into each shell. Don't be afraid to fill it to the top. The filling will shrink.
Bake for 15-25 minutes. You'll know they're ready when your crusts are golden brown and the filling has puffed up like a little belly. Take them out and let them cool for a few minutes. Enjoy warm.
Jenn Chen is a writer living in New York. When she's not writing or marbling, she's probably lost in some internet rabbithole. Favorite rabbitholes: future of transit proposals, divination, untold histories, and TikTok life hacks. She is trying to get better at cooking, and less excellent at procrastinating. She is always down for a long walk.
Photography by Jenn Chen
Recipe adapted from Nommy Mommy and Jenn’s mom’s Line messages