I feel tarty.

Exams are around the corner and in order to relief some stress, i turn to baking.
It makes me feel calm and whats more, after that i can have a little reward in my tummy. =)

this week i made loads of shortcrust pastry goodies.

first up is a caramelised onion and gorgonzola quiche.

believe it or not i baked it at 12am in the morning when i had this sudden urge to make/cook something.

next, are some hongkong style eggtarts.





At first i thought the pastry was too crumby.
After eating the second one, i realised this problem was resolved after it was cooled completely.
So yes, at the end of the day i was happy with the outcome of the pastry, and i didnt even have to blind bake it!

A long long while i baked some Portuguese egg tarts and they got soggy after a day.

I really hope these stay crisp!

fingers crossed!

Caramelised onion and gorgonzola quiche

adapted from Martha Stewart and tart recipe from exclusively food.

Pastry:

70g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
130g (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) plain flour
30g (1 tablespoon plus 3 teaspoons) caster sugar
120g cold butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg

To make pastry:

1. Place the self-raising and plain flours, caster sugar and butter in a food processor. Process on medium speed for about 20 seconds, until mixture resembles fine fresh breadcrumbs (there shouldn't be any large chunks of butter).

2. Add egg and process on medium speed for about 15-30 seconds, until egg is incorporated and mixture clumps together

3. Form dough into a flattened round and place in a freezer bag or wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

4. Roll out pastry between two sheets of baking paper or on a lightly floured board to fit a tart tin. Lift pastry into pie plate and gently press into dish.

5. Trim pastry overhanging the sides.

6. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice.

7. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan-forced) for 10 minutes. Remove weights/rice and baking paper and bake for 10- 15 minutes more, until the pastry is a light golden colour.

Filling:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound onions, cut crosswise into rings

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon coarse salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 ounces gorgonzola dolce

To make filling:

1. Heat oil in a large heavy-bottom skillet over low heat until hot but not smoking. Cook onions, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool.

2. Whisk eggs, milk, cream, and salt in a medium bowl; season with pepper

3. Crumble in cheese, and stir in caramelized onions.

4. Pour mixture into tart shell; bake until puffed and pale golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Hong Kong style egg tarts

recipe from Table for 2...or more.

Pastry:

250g plain flour

2 tbsp castor sugar

1 egg yolk

150g cold butter, cubed

Filling:

150g castor sugar

150ml hot water

250ml milk(1 small pack of milk)

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

3 large eggs

1 egg white

1. Cream the butter with the egg yolk and sugar.

2. Add in flour. Mix well. (If the dough is sticky for you , well maybe your yolks are larger than mine, add in extra flour by the teaspoon until it no longer feels sticky, but got a slight flour feel to it, but not too much though, as it will toughen the crust. the borderline of stickiness and dry feel is very thin.. so, add extra flour with caution)

3. Roll out pastry in between two sheets of plastic into thickness of about 4mm. Stamp out 9–10cm circles of pastry with a pastry cutter.

4. Lightly press the pastry circles into foil tart cases or indivudual mini tart tins.

5. Refrigerate the lined foil cases for 2 hours (I left them overnight)

6. Melt the sugar in hot water, add milk, salt, vanilla essence. Beat all the eggs lightly and mix in all together.

7. Sieve egg mixture and pour into the cold tart crust.

8. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes.