Portuguese Egg Tarts & Meringue Cookies

As promised, here are the receipes requested by some of my blog readers! Enjoy~

Portuguese Egg Tarts!

Egg Tarts
Makes 14.

Ingredients for Pastry:
150g flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1 ½ tbsp icing sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 egg yolk
100g butter

Method: for pastry:
1. Sift flour, salt, icing sugar & corn flour together.
2. Rub butter lightly into sifted flour till mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add egg yolk to form a dough. Chill dough in refrigerator for ½ to 1 hour.
4. Roll dough out thinly and cut to line greased patty tins.
5. Prick pastry with a fork and brush with egg white.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ºC for 20 minutes or till golden brown

For puff pastry: I used ready made puff pastry sheets. Bake in preheated oven at 180 ºC for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

Ingredients for custard:
2 eggs
1 tbsp of condensed milk
Pinch of salt
100ml of evaporated milk
200ml of water
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp of vanilla essence

Method for custard:
1. Beat eggs, condensed milk and salt lightly in a bowl.
2. Heat evaporated milk with water and sugar. Set aside to cool.
3. Pour gradually into the egg mix.
4. Add vanilla essence and strain.
5. Slowly spoon egg mixture into patty tins.
6. Bake for 10-15 mins in 180 degrees.

Chocolate Chip Meringe Cookies!!

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and set aside.
In large metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar while continuing to beat until they hold stiff peaks. Mix in the vanilla and cocoa on low speed, then fold in chocolate chips by hand. Drop small mounds of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Turn off oven, and leave the cookies in the oven for 2 more hours, or until centers are dry. Remove from pan and store in an airtight container.