Hokkaido Custard Milk Tarts

My baking experiment continues with Hokkaido Fresh Milk....of course. That luscious dairy is just calling out to me to try out more bakes with it. But it should not be just any bake, it should be something that can bring out that creamy rich flavour of the Hokkaido Fresh Milk. My usual choice would be a light steam cake which calls for dairy milk. So I tried, but that didn't came out with an evident milky flavour (Yes..I experiment bake all the time). Will share with you all next time when I get the chance, But for now, success calls on this recipe instead: Hokkaido Custard Milk Tarts.

What better way to enjoy the milky goodness than these pastry tartlets containing creamy milk custard using the Hokkaido Fresh Milk? And guess what, baked custard definitely intensified the milky flavour. Yummy.

Pairing the milky custard with flaky, buttery pastry crust is just perfect. I made the pastry crust just thin enough to hold the custard and yet won't dominate the taste of the tartlets. And thus the custard flavour can "shine" through. I have opted to use egg whites only in the custard recipe, so it took on a lighter and purer shade of cream white. 

Let's get started on the ingredients shall we? You will be happy to know that most of the ingredients can be found in your pantry. Even Hokkaido Fresh milk is now readily available at your nearby Fair Price Finest.

Ingredients for Hokkaido Custard Milk Tarts (makes 8)

Sweet pastry dough:

150 g cake flour
60 g cold unsalted butter, cut small
45 g confectioner's sugar
2 egg yolks (40~45 g)
1/8 tsp salt

Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, add in the cake flour, powder sugar and salt. Using only your finger tips, rub the cold butter into the flour mixture. Alternatively, use a mixer to combine the ingredients till it resembles bread crumbs.

• Next add in the egg yolks and gently work the dough but not over kneading it. Over kneading the dough will make it hard and not flaky.

• Chill the dough in plastic wrap for at least 30 mins till ready to be used.
• Grease the mini tart tins. After 30 minutes chill, take out the dough and divide it into 8 equal portions, about 35-36g each. 
• Weigh out each dough portion and place them in the greased tart tins. Use your fingers to gently press in the pastry dough to shape it nicely to the tart tin. Repeat till all the pastry doughs has been shaped.

• Put them in the fridge until needed. Proceed to make the milk custard filling.

Hokkaido Milk Custard filling

1 tsp condense milk 

Pinch of salt 

200 ml Hokkaido Fresh Milk

100 ml heavy cream

40g caster sugar

1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped

1 tsp cake flour sifted

2 egg whites (~80 g )

• Preheat the oven to 170C.  
• In a saucepan, pour in heavy cream, sugar, salt, scrapped vanilla bean seeds and its pod. Turn on the fire to low and stir to cook mixture till the sugar has melted.
• Once the side starts to bubble, remove from fire and sift in the cake flour. Whisk it well.
• Next add in the Hokkaido Fresh Milk to the mixture. Mix well.

• Stir in condensed milk and egg whites as well, mix well. Next, sift in cake flour and egg whites. Whisk throughly again.Remember to use a whisk to whisk it thoroughly. If you still see tiny lumps, it is okay, you will sieve it off later.

• Strain the mixture leaving only the vanilla pod and membranes of the egg. 

• Divide the custard filling equally among the chilled pastry tart shells.

• Bake the milk tarts in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes or till the custard is slightly firm to the touch or not wobbly. 

• Remove from oven and let cool on the rack completely. Gently remove the tarts from the tins by carefully inverting the whole tart and using the palm of your hand to catch it.

Another way to make the milk custards without the hassle of baking the pastry shells will be steam baking it in baking ramekins at perhaps 140-145C for 25-30 minutes. But that will be another try out, another recipe. ;)

Love that whitish colour from the custard. You can of course opt to use egg yolk in the custard. Just replace one egg white with 1 egg yolk. But bear in mind my recipe calls for 2 eggs exactly, yolks for the pastry and whites for the custard. 

You can now easily get Hokkaido Fresh Milk at any Fair Price Finest for $6.45 per litre. Whether it is just for consumption or for baking breads (check out my Hokkaido Milk Bread here!) or baking these delicious creamy Hokkaido Custard Milk Tarts. You should definitely give this great dairy product a try. 

I have grown rather fond of this Hokkaido Fresh Milk and not sure if I can go back to normal milk after all these days of drinking it! But again, I strongly believe quality is more important and quantity. Giving your family and your body the best is essential to having a healthy and happy life.

Till we bake again, do what you love!