Chinese Egg Custard in Mini Phyllo Shells

I like making mini-sized bites. There is an instant 'awww~' response you get from people when you serve whatever-it-is-as-long-as-it's-cute at any party. With a mini muffin pan, it's easy to adapt a recipe to make mini sized versions. People are also more likely to try a bite when it's not a threatening size. Then they keep popping them in their mouths, as if 10 minis equal one regular muffin sized something. But I find myself using the same logic when I go for 10 of those minis, too. Even after working with endless mini bites this holiday party season, I'm still getting to like them more - both making and eating them.

On a different, but related note, I assisted Chef-Instructor Wai Chu's dim-sum cooking class a couple of months ago at the Jewish Community Center. I enjoy taking cooking classes more now because I get to see other instructors' teaching styles in addition to learning about food and cooking. I've gotten to know Wai from the Bowery Culinary Center at Whole Foods where he is a culinary educator. He has assisted in my Korean cooking class there, and I have learned a lot from him - both about cooking and teaching classes. By watching him teach in a different setting, I learned about how I should organize and teach better classes.

Of course, the dim sum class was great all around with delicious food and useful tips. What surprised me was how easy it was to make one of my dim sum favorites, the egg custard tarts. He made them in phyllo cups lined in a regular muffin pan, which makes it a little different from the usual egg custard tarts in pie shells or puff pastry.

With the holiday party season still going strong, I thought it would be a good recipe for the crowd, especially if you make the mini version of this egg custard. It's familiar to many people, but a little different with phyllo shells. If you can get over the fear of using phyllo sheets and follow the tips below, it's manageable. Just take time to get used to handling it without getting frustrated. If you bake this in a regular muffin pan, you can follow the filling recipe below but only need 8 phyllo sheets instead of 16 specified in the recipe.

Hope you have fun with this! I'll try to squeeze in one more post before Christmas, but you never know with my slow steps in life. ^^ Enjoy this holiday season and the few days left this year!

Adapted from Chef Wai Chu's recipe

Chinese Egg Custard in Mini Phyllo Shells
Yield - 48 mini muffin-sized egg custards
(2 pans of 24 mini muffin-sized bites from each pan)

INGREDIENTS:
For the filling
3 Large eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Whole milk or soy milk
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the dough
16 sheets Phyllo (or filo, whichever spelling you prefer)
1 stick Unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
1. Make the filling by whisking eggs to combine and strain in a sieve. Mix in sugar, milk, vanilla extract and salt until sugar is completely dissolved. Skim off bubbles on the surface, if any. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 F degrees.

3. While you're working on the phyllo sheets, keep the unused ones covered in damp towel or paper towel. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on a clean work surface and brush it lightly with melted butter. Place another sheet directly over the first phyllo sheet and brush it with butter. Continue layering phyllo sheets (8 sheets total) with melted butter brushed on each layer. Do not brush the top layer.

4. Brush the inside of each cup in the muffin pan with melted butter. Set aside.

5. Trim off the ends of the layered phyllo sheets if they are tattered badly (mine was). Then cut it into 2-inch squares. You will get between 24 squares (4x6) or 28 squares (4x7) depending on what you have left to work with after trimming off the ends. Place each square in a muffin cup and gently press down.

6. Whisk the egg custard filling again to make sure there is no sugar left on the bottom. Pour the filling carefully to each phyllo-lined muffin pan to 3/4th way up. Be careful not to spill over the filling.

7. Bake for 20~30 minutes until the custard is set and the edges of the phyllo cups are golden brown. Rest for 5 minutes and transfer them to a cooling rack. Using an offset spatula to remove the egg custards will make the job easier, but for the most part, phyllo shells should slide out with a little wiggle. Serve warm or at room temperature. If you must, you can make it a day ahead, keep them refrigerated and crisp up in the 350 degree oven for a few minutes before serving. The light crispiness of phyllo will revive, but not to its full extent.

! TIPS !
Working with phyllo sheets
! Defrost it in the refrigerator overnight. Defrosting at room temperature for a couple of hours doesn't work for phyllo.

! While you're working with phyllo sheets, keep the unused ones covered with damp towel or paper towel. Otherwise, they'll dry out.

! Don't get frustrated when you tear parts of a phyllo sheet. Breathe, calm down and put it carefully on the working surface and keep the sheet together as best as you can. You'll be layering 6~8 phyllo sheets, so tearing some parts won't matter.

By the way, I now have a Facebook page. I hope to post more recipes on the blog soon but also more regular updates on other outlets as well, now the holiday madness is about to subside. For a start, I added photos from my recent trip to Barcelona (and dinner at Moments!) on my Facebook page. I hope you connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest, whatever suits you the best.

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