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Mini Egg Pies with creamy egg custard filling and a super buttery crust are the ultimate snack or dessert. In a portable mini size, they are fun to make as they are to eat and make a great party or on-the-go sweet treat.
Before there was Kawaling Pinoy, my long-time dream was to have my own restaurant or catering services. Many times over the years I thought of quitting my full-time job and taking the risky plunge many times in the past, but the prospect of jumping into the water with both feet was daunting especially with a dependent child still in college.
All I could do was take small steps and see where they brought me. I contacted a few restaurants and Asian supermarkets in our area to offer my mini egg pies, leche flan, and cassava cake on a consignment basis and had a friend design a packaging label on Photoshop for my products.
I’d come home from work late in the afternoon, bake my goodies till dawn and deliver them the next day before I went to work again. It was an exhausting one-person show but an exciting endeavor.
If you happened to be at a certain Asian supermarket in Carson, California mid-October of 2010 and saw a suspicious-looking woman taking pictures of their refrigerator, that would have been me. As you see from the photo below, only one left out of the 40 packs I brought in. It was so surreal to see something I baked actually on the shelves for sale!
Unfortunately, after a year of sweating it out, I had to accept it was all but wishful thinking. Although the venture was successful on its own merits, it was too small-scaled to warrant hiring another pair of hands to help or to give up my job to focus on it a hundred percent.
But even if I don’t sell these mini egg pies anymore, I still regularly make them for potlucks or gatherings. Conveniently bite-sized and with a crust so crisp and flaky and a custard filling so smooth and velvety, they are always a crowd favorite! Give them a try and let me know in the comments below if I could have been the next Sara Lee if I held on to the dream a little longer. 🙂
Tips on How to Make Mini Egg Pies
- The key to buttery, flaky crusts is starting with VERY cold ingredients. I recommend freezing the butter cubes and chilling the flour for a few minutes to maintain cool temperatures.
- For a tender crust, use ice-cold water and add just enough amount for the dough to hold together. The dough should not be sticky but shaggy and feel almost dry to the touch.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before rolling out, especially during hot weather. Work quickly while rolling and lining the muffin pans so the dough doesn’t heat up. If it begins to soften, tear apart or stick on the work surface, return to refrigerator to chill for about 5 minutes
- Handle dough gently and do not over manipulate to prevent gluten formation.
Mini Egg Pies
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 8ouncesbutter
- 2cupsflour
- 1teaspoonsalt
- 2tablespoonssugar
- 1/4cupice water
For the Custard FIlling
- 6egg yolks
- 1can(12 ounces) evaporated milk
- 1can(14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
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Cut butter into cubes and freeze for about 30 minutes to an hour.
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In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and sugar and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
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Add butter to flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or by pinching the fat into the flour mixture with hands. Work them together until resembling coarse cornmeal with pea-like, butter-speckled pieces.
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Slowly drizzle ice water to the flour-butter mixture and with hands, mix until just combined. Gently gather dough and press into a ball. If the dough is too crumbly and does not hold together, add more water a tablespoon at a time. DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH LIQUID and DO NOT OVERWORK DOUGH.
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Wrap dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
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Meanwhile, In a bowl, combine egg yolks, evaporated milk and condensed milk until blended. Using a cheesecloth, strain custard mixture.
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Divide dough into 12 balls. Place each ball between two sheets of parchment paper and with a rolling pin, gently flatten each ball into 4-inch diameter and 1/8-inch thickness.
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Spray holes of a 12-hole muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Lift each flattened dough and place into each muffin holes and with hands, gently press on sides and bottom. Trim off excess dough on edges.
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Pour custard mixture into prepared dough-lined muffin pan up to 3/4 full and bake in a 350 F oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle of custard comes out clean.
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Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from pan. Best served at room temperature.
