eggy dan tat pie {egg custard pie}

if you were to reincarnate yourself as a pastry, which one would it be? mine would surely be this eggy jiggly creamy custardy buttery sweeeeet egg dan tat pie. why? because..i’m sweet, yellow, jiggly, and have no self control.

dan tat translates to: egg tart in chinese and they’re usually served up at dim sum restaurants as dessert. and to be completely honest, i’ve usually been disappointed as none really stack up to the ones at golden gate bakery in san francisco’s chinatown. i blew up the palm-sized tats and turned it into a big ol’ pie because 1. it’s easier to make 2. more custard is mo custard, and mo custard is mo better.

the first time i ever had these golden piping hot eggy roll-eyes-to-back-of-head egg tarts was during an html class that i was taking just for fun that was taught by one of the nicest people i know, basile. i haven’t really thought about basile in a while but now that i think about it, shout out to you for being so nice to teach a bunch of us non-cs majors html in your free time. and i could never forget him driving a silly freshman all the way back from lock-in at church in daly city to berkeley super early on a saturday morning because i had class :’) i think i’ve made my point, basile is really one of the nicest people in the world.

so during the first class (i think) someone brought in these fresh and hot egg tarts stacked in a pink cardboard donut box and passed it around to the table. i had never sunk my teeth into anything so divine. it was buttery, flaky, sweet but not too sweet, and that silky milky eggy custard..it just melted in my mouth in the way that uni does when it hits your tongue. i obviously scarfed my first one down and then scanned the room to see if anyone was going in for seconds. i couldn’t help myself and dove right in for another.

i had to work through this recipe several times (hence the 2 different outfits) to get the consistency and sweetness of the custard just right. what made it easier is that i used the same galette dough method & recipe from the persimmon galettes. so the only thing that i needed to figure out was baking the pie shell and making the custard. once it was right, you guessed it, * rolls-eyes-to-back-of-head *. also, don’t worry about that black center, it’s not actually burned and you can definitely sill eat the pie - it’s just the eggs and sugar caramelizing and browning the top!

xo, christine

eggy dan tat pie

ingredients

pie crust dough

2.5 cups all purpose flour

125 grams (1/2 cup, 1 stick) salted butter

125 grams (1/2 cup, 1 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup ice cold water

pie crust

beans for baking

1 tablespoon butter

custard filling

syrup

1 cup cane sugar

1 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

custard

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups whole milk (1/2 cup divided out)

7 egg yolks

for dusting

powdered sugar (optional)

notes

alice waters’ galette dough

• measure out flour in a large mixing bowl and ice cold water in a separate small bowl

• dice cold butter into rough cubes and toss into mixing bowl with flour. begin breaking up the butter down with your fingers and pressing it into the flour. continue until the dough begins to clump up loosely with a squeeze in your palms. (make sure the butter is kept cold. if it no longer feels cold in your hands, place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and begin working at it again)

• once you have your loose clumps formed, spoon in ice cold water in tablespoon increments until the dough can form into a ball. try to use as little water as possible - just enough until the dough is able to form into a ball and it’s okay if it’s a little crumbly!

• separate dough in halves, form each into a ball, press down gently to flatten into a disk shape. wrap separately and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

pie crust assembly

• preheat oven to 400 degrees

• butter the inside of a 9 inch cake pan

• roll out half of dough into a round sheet (approx. 1.5 cm thick) and trim the edges

• take parchment paper or foil and lay atop the surface of the pie dough

• toss in baking beans atop to fill the cake pan cavity. press the beans to ensure that the parchment paper is closely lined to the dough. this ensures that the dough will not fall over and hold its shape during baking. trim the excess parchment paper and bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown

• remove pie crust from oven and allow it to rest

custard filling assembly

• in a small sauce pan, combine water, sugar, and cinnamon stick and bring up to a boil, boil for 1-2 minutes until you reach a syrupy consistency. remove from heat and set aside

• in a medium sized heat proof mixing bowl, whisk together flour and 1/2 cup of milk until it’s evenly combined. should look like elmers glue!

• in another small sauce pan, bring 1 1/2 cup of milk up to a simmer and allow it to cool down just a bit. in small 1/2 cup increments, whisk in milk into the flour-milk mixture slowly and in increments. once evenly whisked, continue whisking in remainder of milk in 1/2 cup increments. once evenly whisked, drizzle in syrup (removing the cinnamon stick) slowly until mixture is a consistent and smooth texture

• transfer this mixture into a sauce pan and set to low heat. once mixture is warm, drop in egg yolks one by one and whisk at a faster speed. continue whisking for 10-11 minutes or until the custard has thickened into a liquidy custardy consistency

• remove from heat

eggy pie assembly

• set oven to 475 degrees

• carefully remove the beans and parchment paper/foil from the cake pan

• pour in egg custard into the center

• cover the visible edge of pie crust with foil. this will ensure that the crust stays golden brown and not burnt!

• bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops have turned golden/caramelized. keep a close eye because it all happens really quickly!

• remove from oven, allow to cool for safe consumption and sprinkle powdered sugar atop (if you feel like it!)