FRENCH APPLE TARTE

No egg, simple ingredients and simple methods :). I love this kind of recipe. My perfect recipe when I am lazy but want to make something for dessert.
I got the recipe from my dearly friend, Selly. She became my exchange-recipes-friend now :).

Don't worry, tho it didn't use egg, the tarte tasted good! If you are bored with sponge cake, I recommend this-without-egg-tarte. And, if you dislike apple, you can substituted it with blueberry, strawberry, chocolate chip or plain.

French Apple Tarte

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fresh milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 piece apple, peeled, cored, diced.

Methods:
In a mixing bowl, mix all ingredients except cocoa powder and apple. Mix until smooth and no more lumps. Mix 2 tbsps batter with cocoa powder until thoroughly mixed.

Add apple into the main batter, toss well. Pour cocoa mixture in the center of the batter, then swirl it with a chopstick (as you made marble cake)
Pour the batter into 8-inch baking pan, sprinkle it with cinnamon. Bake it in the preheated oven 350`F (180`C) for 30 to 40 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake come out clean. Cool it first before cut it.

PORTUGUESE EGG TART

We are talking about the famous egg tart from Macau....Yup...yup....the crunchy shell mixed together with the softness egg curd just brought back those romantic scene at Ruins of St. Paul's.....*haaaa....if you know what I mean, so you watched F4 movie :)*.

I ate and tasted this famous egg tart when I visited Macau two years ago. Macau is an Asian Las Vegas with those casinos and clubs everywhere, and the city looked 'alive' at night and nothing special at daytime.

Since Macau was under Portuguese before don't be surprised with their portuguese name on the road also some building was portuguese-look-alike tho the local people there are speaking Mandarin *or hokkian language*. But don't worry, some of them can speak English as well.

Well, if you visit Macau, you should go to Senado Square where that place becomes a tourist place, not only for shopping but also for the 'museum'. You'll find Ruins of St. Paul's there and other old buildings which were built by Portuguese at that time.

I tried to make portuguese egg tart at home, just wondering will my hubby like it? Of cos he like it because egg tart is sweet :), tho I used Splenda we still taste the sweetness on the curd.

It is different from 'tart susu' *Indonesian egg tart I guess*. I used pie crust recipe for the shell, and I got the egg curd recipe from here.

Shall we try now? ;)



Portuguese Egg Tart
Yield: 17 pieces (standard muffin pan)

Ingredients:
For Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

For Egg Curd:
10 egg yolks
2/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Directions:
Egg Curd:
Use a mixer, blend egg yolks, sugar, heavy whipping cream and milk until thoroughly blended.
In a separate bowl, put a strainer over the bowl. Strain the egg mixture with a strainer and mix in vanilla extract. Ready to use. (keep it in the refrigerator if you don't want to use it immediately)

Pie Crust:
Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl; toss it with a pastry cutter. Add butter and toss it again, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, tossing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and toss again.

Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into a disc. Knead the dough just enough to form the disc, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 400`F and grease muffin pan, set aside.

Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. On a floured surface, roll the dough and cut it into 17 balls. Flatten the balls into small rounds and fit them well into the muffin pan by pressing firmly on bottom and side (do not over stretch). Fill the pie crust dough with the egg mixture (about 80% full).

Bake the Portuguese Egg Tarts at 400F for about 15-20 minutes or until the filling turn brown. Enjoy!

LEMON-LIME TARTLETS

Got this recipe from a magazine while I'm waiting my hubby at the doctor's waiting room. It tasted fresh, but too sour *for me*. But I like the tartlet texture. I might change the lemon-lime curd with chocolate curd next time :).

Lemon-Lime Tartlets
Makes: approx. 24

Ingredients:
Crust:
4 tbsps chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream

Curd:
4 yolks
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into slices

Directions:
1. Place butter, flour, sugar and slat in bowl of mixer fitted with paddle attachment or in a food processor, mix to form coarse crumbles.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together egg yolk and sour cream. Add to flour mixture and blend until dough just comes together.
3. Shape dough into a round flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight.
4. Place egg yolks, eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lime zest and juices in medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat. Whisking constantly until sugar h as dissolved and mixture has reached 150`F. Remove from heat and stir in butter, one piece at a time, stirring until the butter has completely melted.
5. Run curd through a fine sieve to remove any large clumps (best to do this while it's still hot or slightly hot). Cover with plastic wrap placed directly on surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Preheat oven to 375`F. Rool out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, then cut into individual crusts using a 2-inch biscuit cutter or a 2-inch diameter jar. Press each crust gently into mini cupcake or muffin pan and prick the bottom of each with a fork. Bake until light golden brown, about 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. To assemble, fill each shell with 1-1/2 tsp lemon-lime curd and garnish it with a slice of strawberry.