Some of the most delicious things we ate in Hong Kong were the egg tarts. Each day we were there, we stopped at Kaiser Bakers in Mongkok, just a block from our hotel, for egg tarts & pineapple buns. This was our, probably very unhealthy but exceptionally delicious, daily breakfast.

In Hong Kong, there were two kinds of egg tarts to choose from: tarts with shortbread crust & tarts with a puff pastry crust. We both preferred the shortbread crust, which was conveniently much easier to find. We also had one other variation, a coconut flavored egg tart. Still, the original was better.

Mr. FGK enjoyed these so much, he suggested I recreate them once we were home. He even guided me to Shanghai Street, also known as Kitchen Street, to buy some mini tart tins for baking them in. By the way, if you love cooking and are ever in HK, Shanghai Street is a must do. I was in heaven exploring all the shops for pretty little kitchen tools at a steal of a price. However, with us being in our teeny-tiny Korean apartment & the hassle of transporting fragile items from HK to Korea and then off to another place in the future, we chose to only snag a few small items. I bought tins for my tarts & a pretty little apothecary style tea pitcher. I was able to use both for this recipe.

I was excited to try baking these, but also a bit nervous about how they would turn out. Much to my surprise, they were easy & flawless on the first try. The thing that made them easiest was that I prepared the shortbread days before. I made a big batch of my basic shortbread recipe. I used half of that batch as the basis for my Earl Grey Shortbread Cookie recipe & the rest kept in the fridge for my egg tarts. That, of course, cut my workload in half.

Once I had the shortbread soft enough to roll out & shape into the tins, all I needed to do was make the filling & bake. The process for making the filling might seem like a lot, but it really was very easy. First, I made a simple syrup, then added the eggs through a sieve. Once the eggs were incorporated, I added all the other ingredients, then again, poured the filling through a sieve to thin out the egg whites. Then I just had to fill the tarts & bake. Easy peasy, right? Really, the most difficult part, because we’re in Korea, was tracking down evaporated milk.

These are great for a sweet breakfast, a snack, or I’ve even seen them served as side dishes. Happy baking!