Portuguese Egg Tarts - Pateis de Nata

My husband and I travelled to Asia last fall and while we were visiting Hong Kong, we had to visit Macau since my mom was raised on this wonderful little peninsula. While we were there, we had the most AMAZING Portuguese Egg Tarts from a street vendor. The crust was flakey and buttery and the custard was smooth and warm. I never had an egg tart I loved so much.

Since returning to Vancouver, I have yet to find a Portuguese Egg Tart that can be compared to the one we had in Macau. With summer vacation upon us, I thought I would try to find a recipe for these wonderful egg tarts and see if I can duplicate the egg tarts we had in Macau.

I'm not exactly sure what is the difference between a Chinese egg tart and a Portuguese egg tart. From my experience, the Portuguese tart has a much more flakier crust, the custard is milky and smooth, and the tops of the tarts have the creme brulee look.

Servings: about 20 to 30 tarts (depends on the depth of your tart shells/muffin cups)

Preheat oven: 420 degrees F

*The measurements are a bit odd since I had to convert the measurements from its original recipe.

What you'll need:



1 pkg of puff pastry (I used Tenderflake - 397g)

200 ml of whipping cream

291 ml of milk

6.5 Tbsp of sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Working with the dough:
Pastry dough, I find, is tempermental. They like to be chilled before hitting the hot heat of the oven.

1. Roll out the pastry dough into a flat rectangular shape, about 3mm thick. Then roll the sheet up, like a swiss roll. Chill the log(s) until firm to touch.

2. Divide the log into equal portions, one for each cup, approximately 24 tarts. (I divided mine up into 20 tarts since I only had 20 tart moulds.

3. Flatten the pastry with the palm of your hand and begin rolling it until it's about 3mm thick. Try to maintain its round shape. I found that it's most ideal if the dough is rolled to as think as possible.

4. Press the flatten round pastry into the tart mould. They are now ready to be filled with it's creamy goodness!

The filling:

1. Cook whipping cream and milk until it reaches the temperature of 70 degress C. I used a candy thermometre for this.

2. Stil in sugar and cook until all the sugar DISSOLVES.

3. Beat eggs and egg yolk.

4. To avoid making 'scrambled eggs', it's VERY IMPORTANT to temperate the eggs and the sugar/milk mixture. To do this, slowly add just a bit of the sugar/milk mixture to the eggs while mixing. Continue to do this until it is well blended.

5. Add the vanilla extract. Set aside and cool.

Putting it all together:

1. Pour the filling into the pastry tarts. Only fill the tart half way.

2. Bake the tarts for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the top of the tart has that 'creme brulee' look to it.

3. Let them rest for a bit and then take them out of the tart mould/muffin pan and have them cool on a rack.

4. Enjoy them while they are warm!

A cook's tip: Do not store them in a container, the crust will loose its crispness. Just place them on the counter or on a cookie sheet. Pop them into the toaster to warm up the custard if they are no longer warm.

**Since my tart moulds were not very deep, I was able to make 40 tarts with the full filling recipe.**

I had a blast watching these little babies grow inside the oven. I was stuck to the oven window for the entire 25 minutes of baking time! Don't worry if they look like they will explode, the filling will eventually come back down once cooled off!

Wii Fit for Me!

The recipe that sealed the deal: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is very dear to my heart and it's not only because it's EXACTLY how I like my cookies, but it also brought me a husband. For our second date, he invited me over for brunch, and I didn't want to show up empty handed. I'm not a wine kind of gal, but I was definitely a cookie kind of gal. I picked up a cookie jar and decided to make him a jar full of my favourite cookies..."Alexis Chewy Brown-sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies", courtesy of Martha Stewart. He took a bite of a cookie and the rest, as they say it, is history.

If you ask him now, he would say it's the sweet gesture that did it. If you ask me, I would say that after the first bite, he couldn't live without these cookies.

Servings: about 50 cookies

Preheat oven: 375 degrees F

I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer for this.....but before my mixer was part of my life, I used a regular hand-held mixer.

What you'll need:

• 1lbs of butter (4 sticks) at room temperature


• 3 cups of light brown-sugar


• 1 cup of sugar


• 4 Large eggs


• 2 tsp vanilla extract


• 3 1/2 cup of flour


• 1 1/2 tsp of salt


• 2 tsp of baking soda


• 1 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

1. With your mixer (paddle) cream butter until smooth and light in colour.

2. Add both sugars and mix until smooth.

3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix.

4. While you have your mixer going, sift together the dry ingredients: Flour, Salt, Baking Soda

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until the batter comes together and turns a light brown colour.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips.

7. Spoon the batter onto a lined cookie sheet. (depending how how big you want the cookies, you can spoon the batter into a small mound or a large monund)

8. Be sure to SPACE OUT the cookies...they will SPREAD. I usually just fit 6 cookies onto a sheet.

9. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies turn golden in colour. Since these are a staple in our home, I don't even time it anymore...I pull them out when they look done.

10. Cool on a rack and enjoy.

A cook's tip: These cookies FREEZE especially well. I would usually make a full batch and spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet and pop them into the freezer. Once they have harden, you can place the frozen 'cookie pucks' into a tupper ware container, with parchment paper between each layer, and freeze until you need the cookies.

This cookie recipe brought me love and I hope it'll do the same for you!

Don't re-invent the wheel...create a short cut: Chocolate Crossiants

After thumbing through my current copy of the Real Simple Magazine, I came across this "Fake-It" Chocolate Crossiant Recipe...I had to try it.

After wandering through 3 local grocery stores, I was FINALLY able to find the Pilsbury Mini Cresent Rolls...all the other stores seem to just stock the Jumbo Cresents....With some Ghirardelli Semi-sweet chocolate from my pantry, I was ready to Roll...figuratively and literally!

Servings: 8 crossiants

Preheat Oven to: 375 Degrees F

What you'll need:

• 1 tube of mini cresent rolls (found in the egg/butter section)


• 80 chocolate chips (a little extra for melting, if you desire)

1. Pop open the cresent rolls and separate the pastry dough into 8 triangles.

2. With each triangle piece, place about 10 chocolate chips on the bottom (wider) part of the triangle and roll....to form the cresent. Repeat with all the remaining 7 pieces.

3. Place the formed cresents on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the cresents are golden in colour. You will see them expand in the oven.

4. Cool and enjoy. It's best to eat them warm for the ooey gooey chocolate experience! For leftovers, you can just re-heat them in the toaster oven to bring back the flakey and ooey gooey sensation.

5. If desired: You can melt some chocolate chips with a touch of butter and drizzle it on top of each crossiants.

My husband and I headind to Europe at the end of next month, and this was the perfect way to put us in the "ooo...laa...." mood for Paris!

I'm sorry the picture didn't show any of the Ooey Gooey chocolate..but it really was Ooey Gooey!! I also found that the front ones resembled baked buns in appearance and the back ones had the 'wrinkley' crossiant look to them....weird!

Au Revior!

Moist Mint Cocoa Brownies

I'm a HUGE brownie lover and I'm a HUGE fan of mint. I took a classic cocoa brownie recipe, courtesy of Alton Brown, and added my own touch of mint to make it something different.



What you'll need:

• 4 large eggs


• 1 cup of sugar
  
• 1 cup of brown sugar


• 1 cup of melted butter (2 sticks)


• 1 1/4 cup of cocoa (sifted)


• 2 tsp of vanilla extract


• 2 tsp of mint/peppermint extract


• 1/2 cup of flour (sifted)


• 1/2 tsp of kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. I know the temp is low, but I think that's what contributes to the moist brownie.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer), beat the eggs at medium speed until they are light yellow and fluffy...about 2-3 minutes. Add both sugars and mix. Then add the remaining ingredients (butter, cocoa, vanilla extract, mint extract, flour and salt). Mix to combine.

Cook's note: In case you didn't sift the cocoa powder and realize, at this point, that they are clumping together, don't worry.....the oven will melt it and it'll turn out fine.

Pour the batter into a greased 8 inch pan (if you want them thicker) or an 9x13 inch pan (if you want them thinner) or into mini muffin tins (you'll get about 48 of them).

For the pans you'll need to leave them in the oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. For the mini muffins cups, leave them info about 30 minutes. Of course, use the tried and true toothpick method to test for doneness (a toothpick inserted into the centre of the pan should come out clean).

Cook's note: If you plan to bake the brownies in a pan, create a parchement paper 'sling'. Have a piece of parchement paper that's slightly larger than the pan, line the paper horizontally on the pan and have it line the bottom of the pan and 2 of the sides. Pour the batter in. Once the baking is done, just tug on the 2 ends of the parchement paper that's sticking up and voila! the brownie should pop out easily.

Pop them up and let them cool off. After they have cooled, you can either ice them or leave them naked. If you have baked them in a pan, wait for them to cool before cutting. A pizza cutter makes a great 'brownie cutter'.

Buffalo Wings: Broiler Style

I finally found a "yummy eats" buffalo wing recipe that does not require any deep frying. Of course, nothing beats some declicious deep fried wings, but with most people counting their calories or simply hate taking out their deep fryer or finding enough oil to deep fry...this is a great alternative!

What you'll need:

• 2 lbs wings (wingettes and/or tips, it's up to you)
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 4 tbsp bottled hot sauce (ie. Frank's)
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 ziplock or plastic produce bag

1. Wash the wings under cold water. Pat dry and place the wings in the plastic bag. Set aside.

2. The marinade: mix together the melted butter, hot sauce, paprika, salt, cayenne, and black pepper. Pour all BUT 2 tbsp all over the wings in the plastic bag and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! Don't forget to seal the bag! You can massage the marinade into the wings by gently shaking and rubbing the bag with your hands....LOOK: clean hands!

3. Let it marinate at room temperature for about half an hour.

4. Meanwhile, you can cover a cookie sheet with tin foil (for easy clean up) and rest a metal cooling rack on top of the foil lined cookie sheet. Omit this step 4 and 5 if you are using a broiler pan and the wings can sit on the rack of the boiler pan.

5. When marinating is finished, drain the marinade and place the wings on the rack. Discard the bag. This will allow the fat to drip to the bottom of the cookie sheet.

6. Place the cookie sheet/rack ensemble in the oven, on the top rack and broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat for about 10 minutes...might be less if you have smaller wings, on each sice The wings are cooked when they are no longer pink and still tender. Remove from the oven and baste with the marinade you had set aside earlier.

And that's it! I know buffalo wings are usually served with blue cheese dipping and celery...but I still haven't found a recipe that I like, so I just use the bottle stuff with some celery on the side.