Dalgona Coffee Custard Meringue Tart

Finally posting my tart recipe! I submitted this to our department cookbook competition and won. Yay! I became so obsessed with the tiktok craze dalgona coffee and had to experiment putting it into desserts. I'm still making dalgona coffee at work!

Dalgona Coffee Custard Meringue Tart

makes one 8-9" tart

Shortbread base
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp finely ground instant coffee
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Coffee Custard + Meringue
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp flour
2/3 cup half and half
2 tsp instant coffee or espresso
2/3 cup brewed strong coffee
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3 tbsp butter, in cubes
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
4 tbsp granulated sugar

Dalgona coffee whip
2 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp hot water

• Shortbread crust: 

1. Butter 8-9" tart pan. In a large food processor, pulse together flour, instant coffee, salt and powdered sugar to mix. 
2. Scatter cold butter and pulse continuously until dough comes together into large clumps. The mixture does became very loose and sandy before dough starts to clump together
3. Dump dough clumps into your tart pan and using your fingertips, press dough up the sides of the pan thinly (especially in corners where it tends to get thick) and spread to cover the bottom too. Use the back of your spoon to smooth the surface
4. Using a fork, pierce bottom of the crust several times. Cover and place in freezer for 15 mins or in the fridge overnight to chill
5. Preheat oven to 425F and bake crust for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely

• Coffee Custard + meringue:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, mix together sugar, flour, salt, instant coffee and stir in half/half and hot coffee. Cook until slightly thickened while whisking constantly (about 3-5mins)
2. In a small bowl with the egg yolks, add a few tbsps of the hot coffee mixture to temper the eggs and quickly stir to prevent curdling/cooking. Then add the egg yolks to the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract until well incorporated
4. Pour/spread into your cooked tart crust and bake in oven for 10 mins
5. For the meringue: using an electric whisk/mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add salt, cream of tartar and then beat sugar in 1 tbsp at a time until meringue is stiff and shiny. Spread or pipe over the baked tart filling (ok if warm)
6. You can use a kitchen torch to scorch meringue or place in oven also at 375F for 5-10 minutes until lightly golden. Allow baked tart to cool to room temp and then into the fridge to firm up for an hour

• Dalgona coffee whip:

1. This is to be made before serving as it can deflate throughout the day due to the water content. You can also eliminate the water and whisk only instant coffee + 1 tbsp sugar to half the meringue batter and bake at step 6 above. 
2. If making before serving with water: In a medium bowel, stir hot water with instant coffee and sugar. Using an electric whisk, beat until light tan/brown, stiff and can hold it's peak. Pipe in between meringue on tart 

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Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts

Woo, I'm done with internal med. Medicine was a tough two months. I feel like I need 4 holidays before I start school again :P. I did feel pretty fatigued and didn't have time to do anything, but study and go to work. I survived on purple sweet potatoes and granola bars. Seriously, every meal had so much fiber and I hardly drank any water since we had long rounds... can you imagine how my belly felt??!! I did get really burned out (and constipated :\), so it has taken a bit of time to starting blogging again. But in hindsight, I guess I did enjoy medicine. I think that's how I feel about just anything... like baking a 5 layer cake, riding rollercoasters, spending time with my brother haha...

Now I'm on neurology! I'm actually just writing up this post after brain cutting lab. The knives literally looked like cake knives and I thought, wow, I'm making cake brain layers! And then I remembered I owned a blog and should probably update it :/

Growing up in Hong Kong, I ate unlimited egg and Portuguese egg tarts.  Macau is about an hour away and I would eat these tarts all day long. Also, because I couldn't gamble, so all I did was eat :P. I gussied up these tarts with some matcha custard instead and the combination of flaky crust and silky smooth custard is to die for. 

Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts
adapted from bbcgoodfood
makes 12 tarts

2 Egg yolks
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
½ Cup Sugar
1½ Teaspoon Matcha powder
1½ Cup Half and half
1 Puff pastry sheet

1. Whisk egg yolks/egg, sugar, flour, matcha in small pot
2. Gradually whisk in half and half and vanilla extract until smooth. Put on medium heat and whisk until it it is very warm but not hot (not thick)
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Thaw 1 sheet of frozen pastry dough for 20mins. Cut in half and stack on top of each other. Should be 12cm in width
4. Lightly flour surface. Roll up tightly. If it cracks, leave to thaw more
5. Use a ruler and indent dough every 1cm and you should have 12 slices
6. Flour surface again and a rolling pin. Roll dough to about 10cm circles
7. Press into greased muffin tin. Pour runny custard into it (I strained the custard to get rid of lumps and to make it super smooth). Bake for 12-15mins or until pastry is golden and some burnt sugar spots appear
8. Cool in pan and transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or cold. Can keep in fridge for few days.

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Raspberry pistachio sable

Hello from the Atlanta airport on my way back to Richmond! Ah, I'm not looking forward to school and starting to feel exhausted already haha. I really should have caught up on sleep, but I started reading this fantasy book series and once I start I can't stop (all nighters, reading on the can etc...). I've been trying to read everything non-medical before school starts! I've also been baking up a storm, and baking into the wee hours of the night. It's bad when you've been startling your family as they come downstairs and see a glowing oven and a pair of eyes in the darkness...oops)

I'm all about spring baking now and really starting to enjoy the warm weather. Actually, it's always warm and sunny weather in LA. I'm just leaving it and going back to Virginia D: Sorry, going back to school brings out the whining in me. I can't help it. I guess I'm just going to have to whine for the next 10 years of my life. haha...(?)

But, I'm super excited to see my friends, my bf and even grudgingly have to admit that I want to go back to a scheduled life. I get so antsy not doing anything and so so restless. I'm the worst couch potato and also the worst person you want to sit next to while watching anything, because I WILL ask numerous questions throughout the movie. I've been driving my mum up the wall while she watches her Korean dramas. "Where is the love triangle? Why is the female protagonist so helpless? Who is she in love with again? Why is the evil wealthy mother so cruel?" You know... the typical K-drama plots. I really only watch them to ogle at the actors hehe...

I leave you with this recipe inspired from a recent visit to a French pastry shop. I think I'm speaking for a lot of bakers out there, but there are times when you see an overpriced pastry and you think to yourself..."I could make that for a fraction of the cost". So I returned home, googled sables, consulted a few French cooking blogs, and got to baking. Here, Sables aka French buttery shortbread is covered in cool vanilla pastry cream, topped with fresh raspberries and studded with crushed pistachios. I recommend you make it (like, seriously) ;)


RASPBERRY PISTACHIO SABLE
makes two 6x3" sables
sable breton recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Sable breton
70g granulated white sugar
80g butter (~7tbsp)
pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
112g all purpose flour (~ 1 cup)
7.5g baking powder (~ tsp)

Pastry cream
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream + 1 tbsp powdered sugar

honey
handful of shelled pistachios, chopped coarsely
6oz raspberries, washed and dried

1. Cream butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest
2. Add flour and baking powder and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until a soft dough forms
3. Press dough into tart molds, filling about half way up. Make an indentation in the middle so you have raised edges (I actually cut a generic cardboard box that holds 4 sticks of butter in half lengthwise and covered that with foil to make my molds! Yay for DIY!). Cover with Seran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs or overnight
4. For the pastry cream: whisk in a very small pot all the ingredients except whipping cream. Heat and continue to whisk on medium heat until it becomes goopy. Wrap with seran wrap and cool to room temp. In a small bowl, whip heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar until stiff. Fold into cooled pastry cream, cover and put in the refrigerator
5. Preheat oven to 350F and bake sables for 15-20 mins or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool completely
6. Spread honey on the raised edges of the sables and sprinkle coarsely chopped pistachio. Shake off excess. Spread a layer of pastry cream in the center and arrange raspberries on top 

*Best baked and eaten on the same day. Otherwise, cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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Green tea Crêpe Cake

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Woah. I'm doing back-to-back blog posting. I never do this, but I made this crepe cake for friends-giving and wanted to just shout it out on the blogosphere :P. It's just like the ones you find in Lady M bakery (NYC) but obviously 100x less refined and 100x less pretty :( . Have I ever mentioned that I used to work at a boba shop that also sold crepes and hookah. Pretty strange combo, but I guess it worked out so well that it expanded all over LA and in Hong Kong! I was their very first employee AND I came up with the crepe recipe. At least I know, if med school doesn't work out, I'll be a crepe maker :P

I also made a christmas tree stencil for the cake, but I forgot to take a picture of it ughh. This took a whole day and a half to make, but I plopped my computer right next to the stove and made crepes and watched "The Mindy Project" for 2 hours. Yea... I now have carpel tunnel from twirling my frying pan and batter all over my keyboard. I really need to invest in a keyboard cover because when I type I hear a lot of crunching... too much snacking while studying (oops)

Green tea Crêpe Cake

makes one 8" cake

Crêpes
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups milk
1 cup water
4 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted
5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp matcha powder
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Pastry Creme Filling
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

1.5 cups heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp matcha

1. Filling: In a medium pot, add yolks, flour, sugar, milk and vanilla. Whisk together and heat over medium fire. Keep whisking until it is pretty thick...probably about 5 mins. Take off heat and let it cool. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Whip in the sugar and matcha powder until medium-stiff peaks.  Fold into the cooled down custard and keep in the fridge until ready to assemble.
2. Crepes: In a blender, add all the ingredients. Pulse for 15-20 seconds. Refrigerate it for at least an hour to overnight. This helps to get rid of the bubbles so that it is less likely to tear while making them
3. In an flat 8" non-stick frying pan, heat on medium and melt about 1/2 tbsp of butter. Work with less than 1/3 cup (between 1/4-1/3 cup) of the batter and pour into your frying pan. Immediate tilt the batter to cover the bottom of the pan
4. Wait until the bottom is slightly brown (about 2-3mins), flip with your hands. I found this a lot easier than trying to use a spatula. Heat the other side for 1 min
5. Lay over wax paper and continue with the rest of the batter. I didn't stack them up because they can steam and make the other crepes soggy. I spread them out and would stack them when they cooled down.
6. Assembly: In a 9 or 10" freeform cake pan, wrap the bottom tin with plastic wrap. Lay a crepe on the bottom (your largest and prettiest one). Spread thin layer of filling and stack with another crepe. I added way too much creme and it kind of oozed everywhere. Make it as high as you like (but keep some filling left over to spread the top)! I think I stacked 20 crepes.
7. Lay your last one over and let it set in the fridge with plastic wrap on top overnight. This will stiffen the cake up some so the layers don't slide everywhere. The cake is best left to develop the green tea flavor and soften the crepes for 1-2 days!
8. Get a pretty plate and invert the cake onto the plate. Cover the top with the leftover creme and dust with matcha or powdered sugar

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Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Yay It's the weekend! And the weather is perfect and I'm slightly less stressed than usual :P I've been baking all morning and finally tackled making macarons. This was my first time baking them too. I know I'm a little behind the macaron blogging game, but the price of almond flour and everything else can quickly add up. Food and feeding my ever hangry state has turned my pockets inside out. I'm going to seriously live on carrot sticks next. Although, I did do that once and turned yellow-orange. True story. That's how the bf met me. He thought I was normally orange in color. I don't really know how anyone can be attracted to an oompa loompa. But hey! Everyone for everybody ;)

Since this was my first time making macarons, I was surprised at how easy they were to make! And when I saw feet. I was like YEESSSS!! It does take a little bit of prep because you used aged egg whites but otherwise they are pretty simple... as long as you follow a good recipe.

Some notes...I did one batch with a silicon mat and one with just parchment paper with a template I printed off the internet (3.5cm diameter). I thought it was easier using parchment paper and the shells weren't as hollow. Although, the shells slide right off the silicon mat whereas the paper stuck a little.  If you ever wanted to make macarons, you really should. Nothing to be intimidated by. Heck, if I can, I'm sure you can too :)

Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Makes about 20 macarons
adapted from shopsucre
Macaron Batter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites, ages 1 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar

Custard filling
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup flour (or 1.5 tbsp cornstarch for gf)
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 tbsp butter
1 cup powdered sugar

**or the lazy man's custard: 1 box instant vanilla pudding powder, 3/4 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed into 3 tbsp whipped butter (I used this recipe for my pictures)

Chocolate drizzle
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate

• Custard: whisk all the ingredients other than the butter and powdered sugar in a small pot. Heat on medium and keep whisking it from time to time until it starts to simmer. Keep whisking until its pretty thick and starts spitting large bubbles from the top. Remove from heat and let it cool. In another bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Fold together custard and butter mix. Chill in a piping bag.
• Macarons:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you have one, or just an egg beater bowl... I really don't recommend whisking by hand!), beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with. Don't over beat it or bad things will happen (apparently...)
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue a bit so squishing to mix to knock out some air is okay! After about 30-50 foldings (I didn't count but everyone talks about that magic number). I just did it until the batter looked glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 20 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
6. Fill your pastry bag (hold it up in a tall glass..makes life so easy) and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
8. Preheat your oven to 325 F in the last 2 minutes. Bake for 15 mins, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
9. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled custard filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together. Heat milk in the microwave or small sauce pot, remove and stir in chocolate until it melts into a thick sauce. Drizzle onto assembled macaron tops. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. They don't taste as good fresh out because the inside of the macaron shells need some time to soften and for the filling flavors to come together.

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Custard Creme Puffs (Beard Papa style)

I am a serial worry wart. I must be the largest, most crumbly and flaky worry wart you'll ever meet (ewww but true :\). I constantly worry about stuff at least 10 years into the future and 5-10 years in the past. If I don't have anything to worry about, that's a big worry too! I'm surprised I don't have any white hairs, or even any hair.

Currently, we have all these 4th year medical students matched to their residences doing Q and A sessions. Total mistake to attend any of these, especially when they serve strong coffee and sugary pastries. I'm already stressing about what I want to do (which is I HAVE NO IDEA), while extremely jittery from coffee and sugar. I think I may have stress ate 2 cookies and 3 danishes (maybe not think... I did :P). I like to rant, but the internet hears me out haha.

I'm sharing these creme puffs I made a while ago. Their pillowy softness and creamy centers just mellow me out. You know?! Already feeling zen...

Custard Creme Puffs

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Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because I get gobs of money from everyone in my family and from all my friend's parents too. You get to buy new clothes for the new year. There is exorbitant amounts of good food. Omgee I miss Asia so much! Now that I'm here, I get zero money and zero new things :'(

I decided to make these egg tarts...but... it was kind of a disaster. I mean the custard came out wonderfully. The pastry not so much. I definitely overworked the dough and I could already tell it pretty elastic and not butter. But I couldn't be bothered to re do it (serious inertia problems).  If you do make these, I think a good buttery pie dough for the bottom would also work really well.

Happy New Year of the Horse! 新年快乐!!

Hong Kong Egg Tarts (蛋挞)

adapted from Table for 2 
makes a dozen mini tarts

Pastry
250g Plain flour
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk
150g butter

Custard filling
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup boiling water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

1. In a food processor, whirl butter with egg yolk and sugar
2. Add flour and mix well. (may need to add more if it feels sticky, but don't go crazy)
3. Roll into a tube, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour - overnight
4. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces, and roll out to 5-10" circles between 2 sheets of parchment paper
5. Line your tart molds and repeat for the rest of them. Refrigerate until you need to fill them up
6. Custard: melt sugar in hot water, add milk to cool it, salt and vanilla. Add the eggs in too
7. Strain the custard twice. Super important to get a delicate custard!
8. Pour into the cold tart crust
9. Bake at 355F for 25-30 mins

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