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Let's combine two popular Asian treats into one epic dessert! These milk tea egg tarts feature a buttery shortbread crust filled with a milk tea-flavored custard for an amazing tart.
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What makes this recipe special
If you go to eat dim sum, I strongly urge you to order freshly made egg tarts. When they come straight out of the oven, there is just nothing like it. Sure, it'll still be good when you have them a couple of hours later. But when they're still warm and oh so soft...they are incredible. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it.
Since I'm not sure when I'll be dining at a dim sum restaurant again, I made it my mission to make homemade egg tarts. I have the habit of making almost everything from scratch, and I blame the fact that it's because I'm a professional chef. But it's always worth the effort!
Not only did I decide that I had to make this dessert from scratch, but I also had to add my own spin and make it a very special flavor. By combining two of my favorite Asian desserts, milk tea and egg tarts, I present to you milk tea egg tarts!
Recipe
Milk Tea Egg Tarts
Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry dough
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (220 grams)
- 9 tablespoons powdered sugar (68 grams)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cold butter, cut into small chunks (170 grams)
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons ice cold water
Milk tea custard
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1 cup water (250 ml)
- 2 bags instant milk tea powder (40 grams)
- 1 tablespoon loose black tea leaves
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup evaporated milk (125 ml)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the shortcrust pastry dough. Combine all-purpose flour with powdered sugar, and salt. Add butter and blend in the ingredients with a pastry cutter or food processor until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add egg yolk and water, mixing just until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a disc and place it between two sheets of wax paper. Roll out the shortcrust pastry until it's about ⅛ inch thick. Place on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. Combine sugar with water in a medium saucepot and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add 2 bags instant milk tea powder and loose black tea leaves. Let sit for 10 minutes. Cool completely and strain.
- Whisk together 4 eggs with evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Add cooled milk tea mixture, whisking until well combined. Strain custard filling and set aside.
- Remove dough from the refridgerator and peel off the top wax paper. Cut out circles with a 3-inch biscuit cutter and line 2 ½-inch mini tart shells to create the crust. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Remove shells from refridgerator and fill with milk tea custard until it's about 80% full. Bake the tarts for 20-22 minutes or until the edges of the custard have set. The center will still be a little jiggly.
- Let milk tea custards slightly cool before removing from the tart shells. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Make pastry dough
The steps for making milk tea egg tarts are actually fairly simple. If you ever made a custard pie, it's very similar. First, make the pastry dough. Then the filling. Next, pour the filling into the crust and bake until it has set. And that's it, folks!
For the crust, we're going to make a shortcrust pastry dough for the ultimate buttery crust. Combine the flour with powdered sugar and salt, and blend in the butter until well combined.
Add 1 egg yolk and a touch of water, and mix just until the dough comes together. Don't overwork the dough, or the crust will be tough. The dough may look a little dry, but it'll come together as it rests in the refridgerator.
Step 2: Prepare filling
While the dough is resting, make the filling. To make the milk tea flavor, you're going to need instant milk tea powder. You can find these in almost any Asian market.
I used a combination of milk tea powder and actual tea leaves to get a strong tea flavor. If you only use instant milk tea powder, the flavor can be very mild.
Steep the milk tea powder bags and loose tea leaves in the sugared water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Cool the tea water completely.
Step 3: Roll out dough
While the tea is cooling, roll out the pastry dough. Here's the trick: if your kitchen is particularly warm, work quickly. This dough is soft when it's warm, so it's easier to handle when it's chilled.
When I made these milk tea egg tarts, it was 85 degrees in the kitchen. To avoid having a soft pastry mess, I rolled out the dough, chilled it, lined the tart shells, and then chilled them again.
I used mini tart shells that are 2 ½ inches in diameter, the same size as the egg tarts served at dim sum restaurants. If your tart shells are bigger, you may want to make double the amount of pastry dough to have enough crust.
Pop those shells in the refridgerator while we finish the filling.
You can also make the dough and shape the crust the day before.
Step 4: Bake
Now let's get back to the filling. Whisk the infused tea mixture with eggs, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract. Strain the mixture, discarding the tea leaves.
Straining the custard will also yield a smoother filling. Pour the filling into the prepared crusts, then immediately pop them into the oven.
Here is where timing is crucial. If you notice your milk tea egg tarts starting to puff up, take them out of the oven immediately. When they puff up in the oven, they will shrink and crack while cooling.
It takes about 20-22 minutes for the custard to set, but keep an eye on the tarts to prevent them from over-baking.
Recipe tip
I've tested baking these egg tarts in a convection oven at 350 degrees F and a conventional oven at the same time. When using a convection oven, the tart shells will brown more, but will be done baking at around 17 minutes. When using a conventional oven, the tart shells will be softer and will take about 20-22 minutes. Either oven works.
Let the egg tarts cool slightly, and then you can finally enjoy the fruits of your labor. Helpful tip: pop those tarts out of the shell while they're still warm. Once they cool, it will be harder to remove.
These milk tea egg tarts really hit the spot for me. Bonus? You can't find these anywhere, making them extra special!
For more milk tea-flavored desserts, check out these milk tea cream buns, jasmine milk tea french toast, and rose milk tea!
Make-ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: You can prepare the shortcut pastry dough and line the pastry shells the day before. You can also prepare the filling the day before.
- Store: Keep leftover tarts in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Asian dessert recipes
Looking for more Asian dessert ideas? Try these:
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All images shot and styled by Christine Ma. Available for food photography, styling, and recipe development.
Kendra says
A couple things:
1. I halved this recipe and I used 2.5 inch mini tart tins and I still ended up with 10 mini tarts. Not the 8 the recipe said. Which it would be 4 technically since I halved it.
2. I didn’t know what type of instant milk powder she used so I used one I got out of a DIY Boba tea kit. That was also most of what I saw when I Googled “instant milk powder”. I will don’t know if that’s right or not.
3. My tarts were still liquid after 12 minutes in the oven at 350. They didn’t start setting until about 20 min. I’m mostly upset because I thought they were set and moved the tray too quickly and custard spilled in my oven. Not anyone else’s fault but my own but still. The baking time is definitely off.
I haven’t tried them yet but I hope they taste good. Would love to know if I did anything wrong or read something wrong because the recipe was easy to follow but the result is not what I thought it would be.