Tai Cheong Egg tarts pairing with Milk Tea from Lan Fong Yuen

There's always a queue here, even in the evening. So don't be alarmed when you arrive at the most loved egg tarts in Hong Kong - Tai Cheong Bakery, with the queue stretching up the slope of Lyndhurst Terrace :)))

Despite having various branches around Hong Kong and one outlet in Macao, locals and tourists still thronged this tiny bakery in Central near to Wellington Road for their fix and cravings.

So were we :)))
Numerous shops opened right next to and around Tai Cheong egg tarts to ride on their popularity, including this sweet shop...which was so out of place. 

The queue was long but a quick one, bcoz it kept on moving as each customers walked out of the tiny bakery with smiley face as they quickly tucked into the pipping hot and delicious egg tarts.

See, I told ya..it was so quick and then our turn came :)))) more like my turn coz JS said he had enuff food and refused anymore....so Monkey only bought a few pieces..but guess who ended up eating the most??? -_-"

I kid u not, every customer walked out looking exactly like the above. Hmmmm was that me???


First, the aroma of sweetness and eggs. Then the toasty-ness of the tart shells....
The next test was how wobbly they were....


followed by the crumb test....such fragrant and it's so crispy...Someone told me they added almond flour to it, to give it that crunch and aroma. Very buttery too...

I've been having Tai Cheong egg tarts for more than 10 years, and must say they have tweaked their recipe to be BETTER!!! it's less sweeter now.

Look at the shine~~~~ then the custard....
Oh heavenly.

There I stood by the road side, enjoying my beautiful and awesome egg tarts...together with throngs of tourists who were doing the same....sinking into their share too. Plus all the selfies and selfies sticks...oh gawd.....I see more selfies sticks than walking sticks in HK *even oily stick aka yao char kwai lose out*

and Mr. JS couldn't resist and gobbled down a piece...
He concurred that the recipe has changed and he really enjoyed it a lot....for the first time, as he's not a tart person.

Life is beautiful esp after chomping down some egg tarts, we headed for milk tea at the famous Lan Fong Yuen. It's just located a few steps away from Tai Cheong egg tarts. Another famous establishment in Hong Kong since 1952, one cannot miss this.


Good things usually has got queue, but if you are buying "to-go" there's no queue at all...just order, pay...and wait outside 7-11 which is right opposite and the lady will call out your order in 3 minutes, all ready to go.

Those ppl were queueing up to dine and enjoy their tea inside the outlet. There's other famous food to pair with your milk tea, such as toast and pork buns.

Milk Tea was so creamie and velvety with beautiful aromas. We believed that they used a mixture of different types of tea. There we were, lip smacking our way from egg tarts to velvety tea...still standing by the road side...

AaaaaAAAaaa :))))

So now my question to you, do you prefer the crust or the custard when u enjoy egg tarts? :))) For me it has to be both, like a perfect marriage. 

Onion Tart by Christine

Monkey's been looking hi and lo for a yummy and simple onion tart recipe and my dearie reader Christine was so generous to share a professional one with me :)))))
THANK YOU!!!

it's very USUAL of Monkey not to follow instructions
hohohohohohohohohohoho
the recipe said 4 strips of bacon....and greedy me double that up to 8 strips

First of all u add a small amount of oil into your pan and fry the bacon till it's crispy
u don't really need much oil bcoz the bacon itself will release hell lot of oil that your veins will choke!!!! I've only used barely there oil....hahahahahaha

fry till it turned crispy and caramelised a bit
notice all the protein goodness at the bottom of the pan?

see the amount of oil left?

next with the remaining oil, sautee about 3 yellow onions
recipe indeed said....2 yellow onions but then it's really up to you

when the onions turned translucent, add 1 tbp of sugar, 2 tbsp of white wine
inside JS's cellar there ain't any cheap nor cooking white wine...
every bottle of whites are from France...my eyes popped out when most of them are Grand Crus.
*okie....how come so many good white wines but never pop them open??? saving for what???*

so Monkey resort to cooking sake :D:D:D
JS cooks with japanese sake everyday - including stir fry vegetables
hence I substituted white wines with 2 tbsp of sake but lazy me refused to measure and dunk it as much as I like :P

along with all these, add salt and pepper to taste and finally some chopped taragon
lower the fire and continue to caramelize the onions for about 20 minutes
u'll need to stir occasionally

until they turned like this
I tasted it....OMG so sweet!!!!!

then add a dash of balsamic vinegar
and a knob of butter and this mixture is ready to be cooled

oh yea don't forget your crispy bacon
:)))))))
the fattiness of the bacon balance the sweetness of the caramelized onion
also u can taste a bit of sourness from the balsamic vinegar...
the taste is pretty balanced by now

lazy Monkey used pre-made puff pastry off the shelves
Pampas is my favourite brand. Alwiz have some at home...
so easy to make sardine puffs/tuna puffs/ sausage puffs/ chicken puffs/ egg puffs/ jam puffs
basically just roll them out and fill it with your favourite ingredients and voila!!!!

hmmm so now do u realise that most of the bakery/cafes been charging u a bomb for something so simple?
in fact puff pastry is not that difficult to make but I'm just so so so LAZY. Especially now that my asses have gained some weight...hua hua hua hua

roll our your puff pastry to 1/2 inch thick and put it onto a pan.
if possible fold the sides either in or out to create a crusty sides
poke everywhere with your fork and blind bake till it turned crispy at 190*C

after the blind bake, the puff pastry shrunk....>.<
oh dear~~~
I hope it's enough for the both of us
top it up with the caramelized onions and bacon

Prepare 1/2 cup of Gouda cheese
either u get the block ones and shave them
or just get those sliced gouda cheese off the shelves

put as much or as little according to your palate
and bake them again at the same temperature until it turns brown

oh I forgot, u may want to egg wash your pastry
I can't remember how long I baked it but just for a while I think
nothing more than 15 mins?
coz by the time I've loaded everything onto the dishwasher, set up the table and got *force* JS to open a really nice bottle of white wine for dinner...it's DONE!!!
*well u know I won't attempt too difficult recipe don't ya?*

Ta-Da!!!
it's dinner time :))))
sprinkle the remaining of Taragon...I don't usually waste my ingredients
recipe says sprinkle flat leaf parsley

I have a feeling Christine must be smacking her forehead now coz I've only followed the recipe maybe errrr 65% and modified everything according to my liking and to her horror
heeeeeeeeeeeeee
Oh My!!!!
it's really good and easy to make!!!
JS concurred after the tasting test
:))))))))))))))

I like my food spicy so I sprinkled some freshly cracked dried chili peppers from Sabah
spicy yo!!!! but it's really yummy!!!!

well do attempt it yea :))))
I hope u are able to understand my scribbly mambo jumbo recipe
*well it was very organised when I received it via email from Christine*

Thank you again Christine for sharing this with me
I'll make this again....definitely :))))))

and as for JS...he was a eppy boy bcoz he finally get to see and eat the onion tart I promised him last month, with the baking pan he bought mecoz the 1st time I used it to make a Malaysian Butter Cake and 2nd time for the Union Jack cream cheese tart
hehehehehehehe

Happy Monday folks!!!!

Failed Egg Tarts :P

hahaha I still insist that I must post this up
of my 1st attempt in making chinese egg tarts
which was so failed dot come
>.<

so I started with the short crust pastry that requires butter and margarine...
after rolling out the pastry, I realised I needed to make precise shape according to its mould
out of the blue and outta my luck I found a nice stainless steel cover meant for JS's sauce bottle

u know those lil nice gadget where chefs used to paint the plate by squeezing liquid/almost liquid food outta a clear white plastic bottle??
heeeeeeeeeeeee :)))))))
*I m so creative when it comes to short cut and laziness*
so I used its extremely nice stainless steel cover/bottle neck to chop chop chop my pastry

then drop the round pastry onto this aluminium mould for tarts
press lightly as u go round and round and round and round and round

and it will bcome like this :))))))))))))))
by far everything was looking good and according to plan

usually when I bake, I'll switch on my air-cond in the dry kitchen full blast
in fact this is a very good environment for the pastry, so they said :P
bcoz it's not too warm and melts the buttery dough as u work on it

then prepare the egg custard
I was so disappointed to know that the egg custard contained so much of evaporated milk
alwiz imagined that egg tarts have only egg yolks :P
silly me....hahahahahaa

la-la-la-la pour them in!!!
Hot Mama Thevi lurves this borosilicate glass jug of mine
I got it at a super big sale at BODUM *errr less than RM 10???*

yeah I know right at that price for BODUM?
when we were in Factory Outlet in Paris...Monkey went berserk when she saw BODUM

WATTT? a BODUM outlet among Ferragamo, D&G and Valentino???
but we didn't get anything then coz our luggages were then full storing other goods *Ahem ahem*

BODUM is known for their double walled coffee cups/glasses and they are so pretty too.
I lurve BODUM :)))))))))))))))))
can totally do a separate posting just on BODUM :P
hehehehehehe
sorry...let's get back to our failed egg tarts

and then my egg tarts got outta the oven
it looked so PRETTY!!!!
so nice!!!!!

I was a eppy eppy Monkey
hopping like a rabbit in my kitchen
blessed to alwiz have success on most attempts
*except my macarons :((*
but it was soon short-lived

then the next step is to sink them into your mouth - the taste test

PUI!!!!
it was too SWEET!!!!!
the pastry wasn't crumbly enuff and definitely not as buttery as I want it to be

Monkey was so upset
JS pacified me by swearing at that stupid recipe $%*^#*%^#%^@$
HAHAHAHHAHA

yeah I guess this recipe just doesn't work
if u have a good one, please do share with me
:)))))))))))))))))

Laduree, Paris

ohhhh this elegant exquisite name is alwiz associated with MACARONS!!!!
well they are after all the FATHER of MACARONS!!!!

okie technically macarons was invented ages ago, but it was Laduree who got this idea of using 2 pieces of macarons and sandwiched them in between fillings of lovely ganache

Laduree was established in 1862 by Louis Ernest Laduree
they were bought over by the Holder group who also owns PAUL bakery
with such takeover, one can expect massive investment and heavy expansion
so Laduree is available these days in almost important cities
like Geneva, Monaco, Zurich, Tokyo, UK, US, Italy and also a few Arabian countries

today they have expanded to more tea salons, pastry shop, ice cream parlour
and their very first beauty lines of makeup will be launched next month in JAPAN!!!!
all the makeup collection will be inspired from the lovely colors from all its Macarons creations

usually in betwee shopping or sight seeing, we'll take a coffee/tea break

in any country that we visit even in Asia
so in Asia we'll do the Asian style
*read bout our Thai tea break in Bangkok last year here*

Coffees in the middle of the day is compulsory for us :P
yep we are coffee addicts...without one in the morning, the entire day gonna be unproductive
so another cuppa in the afternoon or after meals are like a booster
however we dun have coffee after 5pm, unless it's a decaffeinated

generally most ppl do tat
this has prompted Starbucks to revamp its business module
it has been announced this week that they will be selling a different type of brew - alcohols
else the number of customers decline as the sun sets....
I wonder if this gonna happen in Malaysia...hmmm....

now let's set our eyes back to Laduree and this sweet lil tart
Lemon Tart
there's too many items I wanna stuff my face with...but I can only choose one
*esp with JS's slitted eyes staring at me*

I'm a sucker for tarts so tarts it'll be
but...but..there's so many tarts!!!!
GAH from apples to berries to cream based, custard ones, with toppings and meringues
GAH!!!!!
decisions decisions decisions

it's even more difficult that getting a nice pair of shoes or that oh-ahhh-bag
coz if I really like them, i'll just get the same in different colors
*which I usually do*
but with food....it's perishable and my tummy has got such limited storage...
maybe 20 years down the road, scientists would have invented an external stomach
*u know the way how external disk works*

the lemon custard fillings were silky smooth....
once it's on ur tongue the curd just glides and danced in ur mouth
almost like eating butter
bit with a lemony tang

only setback was it's way too sweet but french lurve their pastries SWEET!!!!

but still better than the Greeks....I get toothache eating Greek pastries
its crust was pretty good too

perhaps time to horn my baking skills and try some other tarts again
the oven at home been zzzz way too long
tee hee hee

Do take some time and visit their beautiful lady-liked website
so u can continue to drool at their products :P
www.laduree.fr

MasterClass with Hot Mama Thevi

 

Monkey & Hot Mama Thevi bz in the kitchen

I m alwiz intrigued by Hot Mama Thevi's pastries

she does it so easy with flair

and I really wanted to learn something "simple" fr her

esp for an idiot like me...

so it has to be something really really really simple and nothing can go wrong

and of coz something that I'll lurve to chomp on :D

ingredients for the day
we r making CREAM CHEESE PEACH TART!!!!!!
u drooling yet????



first of all we need a kitchen
not just any kitchen...
it has to be a well equipped kitchen like this



chit chatting while waiting for the 1st step to be done
melting the butter over the stove
:D

then u add some sugar into the melted butter....

we r making the tart crust!!!!

I like mixing things :D hahahahhaha

been my job since I was in my grandma's kitchen :P

u can see we were really taking our own sweet time

yes baking should be stress free and fun

and about spending time with loved ones

and knowing us ladies....we can yak yak yak yak non stop :P

next mould the mixture of sugar and butter and flour into the tart tin

hehehhehe so fun....like playing with Play-Doh!!!!

Do u ppl grow up with Play-Doh????

visit their website *here*

of coz I was doin it the wrong way coz this ain't Play-Doh

:P my bad my bad

Masterchef to the rescue!!!!

She's such a patient teacher

with explanation on why, how, when, compounds, reactions, precisions etc

after Hot Mama Thevi's rescue....the crust was looking PRETTY again :D

eppy eppy eppy me!!!!!!

bcoz Hot Mama Thevi has got precision and measurement all in her head....
this tart has got no recipe so u just gotta take note as she goes....



then take the pretty crust into the fridge for 5 and oven for 30 mins
hahahah sorry no recipe here....u gotta go to her to learn..

Blind bake the crust with "pebbles" on top to weigh them down

and of coz cover with foil

just like her children with so many questions...
why??? how??? when??? why??? WHY????
sorry I just have got tooooooo many questions :P

 

so to make this Monkey shuddup....give her more work....like slicing peaches...

but that can neva stop her talking :P

*gah*

Tatura cream cheese.....made in australia
u can get this brand anywhere

from the tube.....

to her spanking white Kitchen Aid

with a glass bowl

so pretty!!!!

Off topic:

we are selling our BLACK Kitchen Aid with stainless steel bowl 

She is 2 years old....any takers??

while the crust was baking in the oven....
out of no where...out came a beautiful golden crust
*hmmm must be her magic wand*


Hot Mama Thevi has got everything prepared for this masterclass
she baked one tart crust earlier to speed everything up
otherwise we'll need to wait for the crust to chill, then bake....and then to cool down

once the cream cheese with a lil bit of sugar and milk were fluffed up 

time to dunk em unto the crust

the crust smells too yummy someone had to take a bite :D
hahaha nope it just fell off....

la la la la la

fr the pic u can see I'm doin a horribly messy job

Hot Mama Thevi to the rescue
and it looked pretty again :)))))))))))

she even let me assemble this creation!!!!

eppy eppy eppy~~~~

TA-DA!!!!!!!
*opppsss the chomp off part was shown in this pic :P*
yeah shows how yummy this tart was tat it has to be eaten way before it was assemble
kekekekekkeke



ok ok a nicer and proper picture
so pretty right?
aaaAAAaaaaaaa
:)))))))))))



just then about time the other crust was ready
so outta the oven...but technically it's not ready yet

still need to egg white wash them and return to the oven for another 5 minutes

thank gawd Hot Mama Thevi prepared a spare....otherwise we really really had to wait

my favourite part - tasting time!!!!!

the crust has got such crunch to it

with good nutty texture - but then there were no nuts used?!?!?!?!?!

then comes the savoury salt-ish cream cheese, which melts in your mouth

and ended with the sweetness from chunky bites of peaches

Hot Mama Thevi, Baby Rheanna & Monkey

by that time....the kids already woke up fr their afternoon nap

to a wonderful smell of cream cheese peach tart!!!

well who can resist tat?

Thank you Hot Mama Thevi

so wonderful to spend time with u

and most of all thank u for your patience hehehehehhe

u r such a great teacher that I can't wait for my next "lesson"

I didn't disappoint my Si Fu

made cream cheese peach tart the next 2 days 

while everything was still fresh in my memory

sorry pic taken with iPad 2 hence the mickey mouse quality

my tart didn't look pretty at all esp its crust

need more practice and kung fu!!!

haiiii yak...yak ...yak....!!!!

*still looking at the pic....so simple and yet so awesome :D*