My dim sum got a little dented on the ride home from Chinatown
I combined different recipes to make don tart at home. I'm not that fond of the pastry crust of the restaurant tarts - they are made from lard, very flaky, but not that sweet. I tried the pastry crust recipe for lao po beng, using water dough and oil dough in layers, and that was perfect in the new tart pans I got. I could make 9 tarts (8 plus using the excess to make 1 more) out of a half-recipe of pastry crust. The alternative crust 1 recipe below is more of a sweet cookie type crust, not that flaky, but rich and sweet. It's more americanized in the taste, I think.
Don tarts in the muffin tin
Here is how the homemade one turned out.
Ingredients:
Pastry crust:
Water dough
- 1 cup flour or bread flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 4 tbsp sugar
- up to 140 ml (roughly 2/3 cup) water
- 1/2 cup shortening or butter
- 2 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 6 large eggs
- 1-1½ cup sugar, to taste
- 1½ cup milk
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
Make the crust:
- Mix up both doughs separately (use food processor). For the water dough, only add enough water to make the dough come together smoothly. Wrap each dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator for about 1/2 hour.
- When ready to use, divide the water dough into 4 equal pieces. Divide the oil dough into 4 pieces also.
- On a floured board, roll out a piece of water dough into a rectangle. Roll out a piece of the oil dough and then distribute the oil dough fairly evenly (it will be crumbly, don't worry about broken pieces) over the rolled out water dough.
- Roll up the two dough layers, swiss roll style, and flatten again. Then roll swiss style again, the opposite way, and divide the piece in half.
- Roll each half to a circle that will cover up a mini-tart pan. Fit the dough gently into the pan; trim excess dough.
- Poke holes in the bottom with a fork and refrigerate the crusts until filling and baking.
- Preheat the oven to 325°.
- In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, milk and vanilla extract until mixed well. Let the mixture rest 15 minutes, letting any surface bubbles pop and dissipate. Restir the mixture gently, then skim off any remaining bubbles. Spoon the custard mixture evenly into the unbaked tart shells.
- Place tart pans onto a large foil lined cookie sheet to catch spillovers.
- Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a tart comes out clean and the crusts are lightly browned. Cool the baked tarts for 5 minutes, then use a knife or spatula to loosen the tarts out of the tins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftover tarts.
Ingredients:
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- In a large food processor, add the flour, sugar and salt. Pulse just enough to blend. Slice the cold butter into 1/4 inch slices. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture in the processor. Pulse on/off until mixture has the consistency of cornmeal.
- Whisk egg and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. With the processor on, pour the egg mixture down the feed tube. Process until the ingredients form a ball.
- Remove dough and gently press together into a smooth ball with your hands.
- Roll the dough out about 1/4 inch thick on a floured board. Cut out circles to gently fit into mini-tart pans or a muffin tin. Press the dough lightly into the bottom.
  | If I only had a pan like this that makes cute little tarts... |
  | or some fluted pastry cutters like these |
Alternative Pastry Crust 2
Ingredients:
- 2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening or lard
- 1/2 cup ice water, plus a few tsp additional
- Sift flour and sugar together in large bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives, until the shortening is the size of almonds. Squeezing with your fingers, flatten the shortening lumps in the flour.
- Stir in the ice water with a fork, until the dough barely holds together. Add a few drops more water if needed but do not overwork the dough.
- Press dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours. OR, a food processor can also be used to make the dough.
Recommended References:
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