For Hong Kong egg tart fillings, you typically use whole eggs and sweeten it with a simple syrup while Portuguese egg tarts include egg yolks, white sugar, and cinnamon. For this recipe, I stuck with egg yolks, evaporated milk, and sweetened with condensed milk to give it a sugary but custard-like body.
Chinese egg tarts developed in Hong Kong from similar pastries introduced to the region through the Portuguese colony in Macau. It might seem difficult to make the case for baking egg tarts at home when there are just many good examples available in Chinatown for less than a dollar apiece!
The first bakery in Hong Kong to use short crust pastry in egg tarts, Tai Cheong Bakery is where tourists and locals alike flock to for the classic short crust tart. A favourite of Governor Chris Patten’s, these tarts feature the best short crust shell we’ve come across in the city– crumbly, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth.
A specialty from the region, this bakery claims to have the best egg tarts in Macau and is even considered a trademark and tourist attraction of Macau. While they don’t actually open the bakery here, you can still get their tarts exclusively at the Expresso at The Excelsior Hotel.